You will be only mine
by redhead.witch
Summary: Starting with the case in private school, where students are disappearing, the SPR team is facing a dangerous opponent, who has his eyes on Mai and Naru. MxN
1. Contrahere lapidem I

Mai walked into the SPR office in a pretty bad mood, which was never a good sign. She wasn't the sort of person who often had bad days, she was usually cheerful, but she had had a terrible day at school. The teacher had decided to pick on her because of her week long absence while she had been working on their last case, and because of that she was now late. The last thing she needed now was to be scolded by her narcissistic boss Shibuya Kazuya, aka Naru.

After closing the door she took off her jacket and left it in the closet. She stood there for a moment listening, but when she didn't hear anything form Naru she went over to her desk and sat down. Maybe Naru hadn't even noticed her absence from the office. She stared at the papers which were lying on her desk, waiting to be filed, and felt tiredness creep up around her. When the doors of Naru's office opened she quickly grabbed the nearest document and pretended to read it. After all, a good camouflage was half of success. Or something like that.

"Thank you very much Shibuya-san." An older man who had just exited Naru's office said. "I'm really grateful that you agreed to take the case."

Naru only nodded his head in reply. Sometimes Mai wondered if it was painful for him to talk or something. When the doors closed behind the man Naru turned his attention to his young assistant, watching her with his blue eyes which Mai loved so much.

"Call everyone, we have a new case." He said and went in the direction of his office.

Mai sighed in relief; it looked like he hadn't noticed anything after all.

"And next time don't be late. I'm paying you for being at work, not the other way around." He added as he walked into his office and closed the doors.

Mai stared at the place where he had disappeared for a moment before sighing in resignation. She should have known better than to hope that Naru wouldn't notice something like that. It was as if he had his eyes everywhere and on everyone. Sometimes she wondered if he was a normal human. She shook her head and picked up the phone which was sitting on her desk. A small smile worked its way onto her face. She had started to miss her co-workers already…

=G-H=

"Mai! I haven't seen you for such a long time! I missed you!" Takigawa said half an hour later, closing his arms around the petite girl.

"Bou-san… can't… breathe…" Mai mumbled, trying to break free from his bear hug. She had missed him too, but that didn't mean that she was keen to earn some internal damage from it.

"Let her go you moron, you're killing her!" Ayako interrupted them, hitting the poor monk on the back of his head.

He quickly let go of Mai to hold his head in his hands.

"Stop abusing me you old hag!" Takigawa shouted in the redhead's direction.

"Who the hell are you calling an old hag?"

"There is only one person in this room!"

"Now now, Takigawa-san, Matsuzaki-san, please calm down." John tried to calm them down by walking between them.

It only left him deaf…

Mai smiled to herself. She liked the feeling she got when they were all together. It was almost as if they were family.

"Oh, how sweet." The new voice rang from the direction on the door and Mai turned around. Gene walked into the office with a smirk on his face, just as handsome as his brother's. "Our two infamous lovebirds are at it again." He looked at the two adults with humour in his blue eyes, not paying any attention to the murderous glares which they sent his way.

Yes, Gene was now a member of the SPR team. It had been a massive shock for everyone when Gene had showed up in their office one day. Mai still remembered the event clearly. She had never seen so much emotion on Naru's face before, and it never happened again. The truth was, Gene had never died. He came close enough, but he survived. Yes, he had been the victim of a hit and run. But what Naru hadn't seen in his vision was the fact that his twin had been saved by a fisherman who had showed up in the nick of time. He saved Gene and left him in the hospital, where he spent a long time in a coma. The doctors hadn't informed his family simply because they had no idea who he was. He hadn't had any identification with him since somewhere in the water his wallet with his ID had fallen from his pocket. But as an older brother he still felt the urge to protect Naru, even though he was unaware of it. Thanks to his ability as a medium he had been able to perform astro-projection to Mai, who had similar powers to his and was on a similar level. He helped her with clues, communication with ghosts and other things. As soon as he was able to he had arrived in Tokyo. He stayed with them because as he said 'they were a lot of fun'.

Before the two adults could start another fight Naru emerged from his office, looking around.

"Do we have to wait for anyone else?" He asked, walking over to his usual place where tea was already waiting for him.

"Masako isn't here yet." Mai replied, looking around and not spotting the black haired medium anywhere.

"Hara-san has her own business to deal with for now so she won't be working with us on this case." Naru answered, taking a sip of his tea.

"Well then everyone is here." Mai replied as everyone took their places around the table.

"Good, then we can start." Naru opened the file with information form their client, who had been with him earlier. "The client is a teacher from Shore High School."

"I've heard about this school." Takigawa interrupted him, furrowing his brows. "In the morning, they were talking about it on the news…"

"I heard it too!" Mai exclaimed, sitting up straight. "They were talking about missing students or something like that. And someone died there…" The last part she added quietly, wishing that she hadn't had to.

"Well, if you could just let me finish then I would tell you what happened." Naru snapped, making Takigawa and Mai look down at the carpeted floor. "Three girls and five boys have disappeared in the last two months. The fact is that the victims went missing overnight from their beds. There were no signs of burglary or fighting. In one case the window in the girl's room was left open, but that's all. Before it happened the girls were talking about some curse, but the teacher couldn't give me anything specific about it. Students and teachers are scared; some parents have even removed their children from the school."

There was a moment of silence as everyone thought about what had just been said.

"Eight disappearances… it sure looks serious." Takigawa said, rubbing his chin. "Do you have any theories Naru?"

"Not really. But the cases make me curious." The boss replied honestly.

"What about this curse thing?" Mai asked, looking at the others. "Is it even possible for something like this to happen?" She wondered aloud.

"It's possible, there are many different kinds of curses from all across the world." Gene answered, looking at her. "But if there is a curse, we won't be able to do anything without knowing who the culprit behind it is." He furrowed his brows slightly as he thought about it.

"But we don't know yet if there really is a curse or a ghost. Maybe someone just spread a rumour and people believed it." Ayako stated, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"But what about the disappearances?" Mai asked, turning her gaze to the priestess.

"When I lived in Australia there was a man in one of the schools who was kidnapping teenage boys, keeping them for some time and killing them later." John was the one who replied to her, wincing at the memory. "It could be the same deal with Shora High School. Teenagers often look for abnormal things when something has scared them."

"I hope that's not the case." Mai whispered. It was horrible to think that someone was able to do things like that just to please his sick imagination.

"We can't say anything for sure until we check out what's going on over there." Nary said, standing up. "We are leaving tomorrow at ten."

Everyone nodded and followed suit, preparing to leave and get ready for the case.

"And Mai," When the brown haired girl turned in his direction he added "Try not to be late." With that he walked into his office.

"Jerk…" Mai mumbled under her breath as she walked to her desk.

In the quietness of Naru's office, his brother's voice rang in his head.

_"You know, you can always make sure that she won't be late"_

_"Do I even want to know what you mean by that?"_ The younger twin answered.

_"You can always drive her home, stay for the night and then…"_

_"If you want to live longer I advise you to shut up."_ Naru snapped, breaking the connection between them.

In the main office Mai looked at Gene, who was sitting on the couch with a smirk on his face.

"What is so funny?" She asked, wondering what was behind his good mood.

"Oh, nothing important." Gene answered, directing a wide smile to her. "Don't worry you pretty head over it."

With that he moved to Naru's office. After all, he hadn't finished teasing his brother.

* * *

_edited by: Dark Akuma Hunter_


	2. Contrahere lapidem II

Mai looked through the window of the car. She was speechless. Shora High School was like a massive western castle! Looking at the main building she was suddenly reminded of the Harry Potter movie she had watched with Bou-san and Gene the week before. This school wasn't quite as big as Hogwarts, but it was certainly close. Mai decided it was pretty amazing.

"This place is huge…" She muttered, not once looking away from the view behind the window.

"Shora High School is a private school with very expensive fees, so I'm not surprised by its looks." Ayako answered her, also watching the school building. "I could get used to living in a place like this, you know? Almost like a princess." She added to herself, but it was loud enough for the others to hear.

"Aren't you a little too old to call yourself a princess?" Takigawa asked innocently, looking at the road and van in front of them.

An angry mark appeared on Ayako's head as she hit him on the head like she had done so many times before. John and Mai, who were watching from their seats in the back, merely sweatdropped at the exchange.

"Watch what you're doing woman! I'm driving here!" Takigawa shouted, rubbing his head with one hand. "Personally I don't think I would be happy in a school like that. Everywhere you go you would be surrounded by spoiled rich kids who are only thinking about the things they can buy. It'd be a nightmare." He said seriously, glancing at the building.

"Be quiet idiot, you don't know what you're talking about. Geez, guys don't have even the slightest bit of imagination…" Ayako mumbled under her breath but, again, everyone heard.

Mai smiled to herself. She liked to spend time with Ayako and Bou-san during their cases. They were just like an old couple, with their never ending arguments. Sometimes, Mai treated them as parental figures.

When they pulled into the driveway the big wooden doors leading to the castle opened and an older man came out, heading hastily in their direction.

"Good morning everyone." He greeted, standing in front of them once they got out of the vans. "My name is Mabura Ijo; I'm the headmaster of this school. I'm really thankful that you have arrived here to help us." Mai didn't know why, but she got the feeling that he wasn't being completely honest. "I prepared an empty classroom for your equipment and the rooms in the school dormitory which you inquired about. I hope that they will be good enough for you."

"Thank you Mabura-san." Naru said, shaking hands with the headmaster. "Can you please show us the classroom now? We would like to set up our equipment."

"Of course."

The headmaster led them through the corridors, which Mai admired.

"They could make a lot of money by letting tourists in here." Gene stated, looking around.

The corridor had tall walls with paintings adorning them. The floor was made of white stone and a long stretch of carpet was placed there, making the space friendlier. But Mai decided that there should be more light since the corridor was pretty dark and it was still daytime.

Then something caught her attention. On one of the pillars which connected floor to ceiling there was some kind of poster, which the guys in front of her had missed. She smiled slightly as she looked at it.

"What did you find?" Someone asked behind her. When she turned around she saw that it was Gene.

"Just this." She pointed her finger to show him where to look.

Gene smiled in spite of himself. On the piece of paper was a perfectly made computer caricature of the headmaster with a short verse describing him.

"It looks like someone isn't very popular around here." He said, taking the poster off the pillar. "But the person who made it did a really good job."

"You're taking it?" Mai asked, watching while he folded the paper and hid it in his jeans pockets.

"Yeah. You should already know that everything has to be shown to Naru or else the dragon will bite you." He answered with a slight chuckle, ruffling her hair in a friendly manner.

Mai still couldn't get used to how different the twins were. One of them was serious, emotionless and narcissistic; the second playful, cheerful and open to others. Sometimes she wondered how much easier her life would be if she had fallen for Gene instead of Naru. But you can't choose who you love, like someone once said.

"Mai! Gene! Are you coming?" Ayako called for them, already a far distance ahead of them.

They quickly caught up with the rest.

_"What were you doing back there?"_ Naru asked Gene telepathically, looking at him from the corner of his eyes.

_"Is there jealousy in your voice or am I imagining things?_ Was the older twin's answer.

_"Keep dreaming."_

Mai looked around the spacious room, oblivious to the conversation between the two brothers. As the headmaster was telling Naru, the classroom hadn't been in use for some time now and nobody ever came over there, so there should be no interruptions to their work.

Naru talked with the headmaster about a few details before sending the team back to the van to collect the equipment. After some mumbling and complaining about Naru being a jerk Mai took the cables used to set up the cameras from the car and headed to the school again. When she went through the main door she stopped suddenly on the middle step. There was something in there… the cables fell from her hands when her grip on them loosened. She swayed slightly, her knees deciding to give out under her small weight. She dropped to her knees on the ground.

"Oi, Mai!" Takigawa shouted, already running in her direction, forgetting about the equipment. He kneeled next to her, looking into her face.

Mai's face was deathly pale as she looked into what appeared to be thin air, at least to him. Her eyes were impossibly wide, the centre of them almost invisible, lips parted slightly as if to silently scream something. She didn't even acknowledge the monk's presence, watching something only visible to her.

"What's going on?" Ayako and Gene were rushing in their direction, setting the cameras down.

But as they stepped through the doors the dark haired twin suddenly stopped and covered his mouth, leaning against the doorframe for support. His eyes were wide, frightened though not as terrified as Mai. Lin, who had been sent with them to assist with the equipment, supported him from behind before the boy fell to the ground.

Mai wasn't listening to any of them. She didn't have the slightest clue as to the commotion around her. For her, there was no longer an empty corridor as to what they had seen the first time, but she wished it was. In front of her stood a girl, around her age, wearing a school uniform which supposedly belonged to Shora High School. But the girl herself… her eyes were looking straight into Mai's, but there was no life in them, they were completely empty as if made of glass. The originally white shirt which the girl was wearing was covered in red spots; in what Mai was sure was blood. The red liquid was dripping form her neck. The ghost opened her mouth to say something, but the sound that came out was something that terrified Mai. It wasn't a human voice or even a sound but, amazingly, she could clearly understand what the girl was trying to tell her. Shivers ran down her spine, making her tremble slightly. The vision disappeared almost as suddenly as it had appeared.

"Mai! Gene!" Naru's voice rang in the empty corridor when he came towards them, walking through the place where just seconds ago the image of the ghost had been standing.

He had heard noises from the corridor when he was in the base, checking over the file again. With his mind set on scolding his team for making a commotion he left the base, but as soon as he saw what was going on the thoughts of scolding disappeared. There they were, Mai kneeling on the floor, shaking, pale as a ghost, and Gene, not able to stand on his own legs. He quickly came over to them.

"What happened?" He asked Ayako, who was checking over the shaking girl.

"I don't know, they both just collapsed." The redhead answered, looking up at him.

Naru nodded. He knew what had happened, after all he had seen Gene in this state many times before.

"Lin, help Gene back to the base. Matsuzaki-san, Takigawa, John, collect the rest of the equipment." He ordered, putting his hand under Mai's arm to help her stand.

As soon as the girl was on her feet she collapsed again, still scared and exhausted after what she had experienced. Naru caught her before she hit the ground.

"You really are a handful…" Naru sighed under his breath, putting one hand under her knees and the second so he was supporting her back before lifting her up in his arms.

In another situation Mai would have been blushing furiously, being held by Naru, but now she barely noticed what was happening. It wasn't long before her mind went black and she drifted into unconsciousness.

=G-H=

"And then she tried to say 'He chose the next one'." Main finished the story, looking at everyone.

After drinking the tea Ayako had given her once she had woken up Mai started calming down. She still couldn't forget the look on the girl's face or the sound coming from her mouth, but now it wasn't as terrible as it had been at the time. She glanced at Gene, who was standing next to the window, looking through it. She was sure that he had experienced the same thing.

Naru was sitting near the table, thinking about the vision which Mai had described to the,. Now he was sure that they were dealing with an attacker, but was he really a ghost? That was the biggest question in this case.

"I'm not surprised you were scared." Ayako whispered to Mai, stroking her head lightly. "I would have had a heart attack if something like that happened to me."

Takigawa was watching them both. He was worried about Mai. The girl was always the one to be affected the most by the cases. She had experienced their deaths, seen their lives, talked with them and been hunted by them. He had lost count of how many times the youngest member of the team had been hurt. But that didn't really matter to her as far as he could tell. She was always cheerful and full of energy, looking out for the others. Takigawa admired her for that and the way she was able to influence others with her optimism.

"The vision wasn't the worst part." Gene said suddenly, looking away from the windows and at the rest of the team. "I didn't see it as clearly as Mai did, I only saw the shape, but the feelings that were coming from the ghost were overwhelming. Fear, anger, pure hatred, resignation. When we entered the school for the first time there was nothing, but the second time it was choking me."

"This case is getting more complicated and suspicious and we've only been here for an hour." Takigawa said, taking a seat next to Mai. "We'll be forced to spend a lot of time here, you know?"

Everyone nodded. The more complicated a case was the more time they had to spend solving it/

"We have to interview the students. They may have seen or heard something important but are too afraid to share it with the teachers." Naru said, earning everyone's attention. "And we should ask them about the missing students. Try not to walk alone, always have someone with you. I don't want to have any of you going missing. If something happens inform Lin or myself immediately." He instructed everyone.

"So, what are we going to do?" John asked, watching their boss and awaiting orders.

"Brown-san, Gene, go check the area around the school. If you feel anything, try to exorcise it. Takigawa, Mai, go to the second floor where the classrooms are, lessons should be over soon. Maybe you will be able to talk to the students on an unofficial level. Lin and I are going to interview the teachers." Naru said, looking at everyone, waiting for them to disagree. Like they would do it…

"Roger!" Takigawa exclaimed, standing up and waiting for Mai, who was finally getting some colour back in her face.

"And what about me?" Ayako asked, not liking the idea of being left out.

"You are going to stay here Matsuzaki-san." Naru said calmly, heading to the door with Lin.

"Why? Main is always the one who stays in the base." She stared at the teen in confusion.

"Yes, but in this case Mai can make a connection with the students since she is around their age." Naru answered patiently. "On the other hand, you are _much_ older than them and they may mistake you for a new teacher." With that Naru left the room, not looking back.

Everyone in the room, minus Ayako, tried to hide their smirks, while the poor miko looked speechlessly at the closed door. Her face was slowly turning red. Oh boy, she was furious now.

"Naru you little brat! Come back here!" She shouted, ready to run after the boy if John hadn't stopped her.

"Maybe we should leave." Takigawa suggested, already dragging Mai out of the room. Gene followed shortly after with John. Staying in the room alone with the furious Ayako wasn't the smartest idea in the world, especially for Gene who looked exactly like Naru.

* * *

_Edited by: Dark Akuma Hunter_


	3. Contrahere lapidem III

A/N: _First, thanks to this who reviewed preview chapters. You are really great, guys :D_

_And I also wanted to thanks this anonimous readers. I hope that you will left a word next time :D_

_I know that his chap is pretty boring, but forgive me, please. Some talking is needed from time to time :D_

_Enjoy this chap, anyway :D_

=G-H=

"This school seems even bigger from inside." Mai exclaimed, looking up the stairs leading on second floor together with Takigawa. "But I think that I would never in my life agree to walk here alone, especially at night."

"And why is that?" Takigawa asked, walking next to her, also watching the corridor, now empty. Students were still in the classrooms.

"Look at the paintings." Mai answered, pointing on the portraits which they were passing. "I have the feeling that they are watching my every moves as if I did something wrong and they are going to punish me for that." She shivered at the thought, looking on one of the man on the portrait.

Takigawa laughed at this.

"You have pretty big imagination." He said, glancing on the walls. He would never admit that he had this same feeling... He was the man, after all. "Many people have the same feeling while being in old building especially if the light is dim." He added, patting her head reassuringly.

"Just admit that you are as scared as I am."Mai stuck her tongue on him.

Before Takigawa could answer her, the girl suddenly stopped i the middle of the step and turned around to looked down the stairs. She thought that she heard something from behind... and just as she thought, some figure appeared in the shadow next to the wall. Mai suddenly remembered the ghost from before and the fear suddenly hit her.

"Bou-san." She whispered in slightly shaking voice.

The monk turned around also and seeing the figure down the stairs he quickly stood up in front of Mai, his hand in position to chant his mantra. The brown haired girl looked from behind him... she was afraid that it was the girl from earlier. Mai couldn't see her clearly because of the shadow, but she could see the line of her uniform, which was the same as the ghost's.

But when this mysterious person emerged from the shadow both, Takigawa and Mai, sighed in relief, relaxing. Before them was just normal, and most important alive, girl in uniform which belonged to school. She was walking slowly, reading something on her phone, not paying any attention to what was going on around her. She went on the stairs and when she three steps up she suddenly looked up from her phone and screamed quietly when she saw to other people on the stairs. She wanted to take a step back, back ended falling down, seeing as she was already on the steps she lost her balance. Mai gasped but luckily, Takigawa was fast enough to run down and grab girl's wrist before she hit the ground.

"Whew, it was close." He said, when the girl's balance was stabilised once again. "You could broke something if you fell."

"Geez, don't scare people like that!" the girl answered, sighing with relief. "For a moment I thought that you are the ghosts they everybody are talking about."

"Don't worry, we are not ghosts." Mai smiled to her, coming closer. "My name is Taniyama Mai and this is Takigawa Houshou."

The girl's brows furrowed for a moment and then something dawned on her.

"You have to be from Shibuya Psychic Research!" she said looking on them for confirmation and when they nodded she continued "The headmaster were talking about you today morning. It would be great if you solve this problem, it's terrible here right now, everyone are talking only about ghosts." She wanted to say something more but she suddenly stopped and turned her head slightly. But for now I have to go, Mabara is coming. Sorry guys and see ya." With quick wave of her hand she run up the stairs, skipping two at one.

An just as she said, after a moment the headmaster himself together with Naru were heard coming in their direction. Mai and Takigawa quickly looked on each other.

"We should go before Naru see us doing nothing." Mai suggested and both of them quickly run upstairs, before Naru saw them.

As soon as they went into second floor, shiver run down Mai's spine. She looked around but saw nothing. The corridors were empty since the lessons were still continuing. However, the feeling of being watched was so big, that it was almost choking her...

=G-H=

"That reminds me..." Mai said, when she and Ayako were at their temporary room, unpacking their things. "Who set up the equipment?" she looked on the miko, who was sitting on her bed.

"Gene, John and Bou-san were going to do not long after we were sent here. The headmaster wanted everyone to be in the dorms when they do this, not o interrupt the lessons and clubs meetings." Ayako answered turning to her.

Mai nodded her head. She wasn't complaining; at least she wasn't the one who had to wandered around cold and dark corridors of the school at night. She shivered at the thoughts. She felt sorry for the guys.

"The good thing is that we don't have to be worried about it." Ayako added after the moment, lying down on her bad. "The guys will take care of everything and we can rest."

"Too bad it's so rare..." Mai sighed, plopping down on her bed.

Ayako nodded and sat up.

"Since you are going to rest I will take the bathroom." With that, Ayako quickly bolted out of the room to the small bathroom attached there, taking her sleeping gown and bad with her.

"Ayako!" Mai shouted after her, but the woman already closed the door.

Mai sighed frustrated. It would take next hour for Ayako to go out of the bathroom. And for her it meant an hour of boredom.

=G-H=

_Mai was alone in some big dark room. There was no windows and the only source of light were small candles suited on the walls. Thankfully, they gave enough light for Mai to see everything. Or maybe not so thankfully... In the middle of the altar was suited small altar, with red stone on it which was pulsing with strange red energy, making the air around it vibrating. Around the altar, however, were placed five stony tables. And what was on that tables really shook Mai..._

_Now she knew what happened to missing girls. All three were lying in front of her, on three tables. __Inspite__ of herself, Mai looked closer on them. They were now dressed in long white dresses, their hairs lying freely around their faces. Then, their necks made Mai shivered slightly. Long sharp cuts were presented them, almost completely separating the head from the body. Mai touched her own neck unconsciously, as if checking if it was still whole. _

_'Two more. Two more and the prophecy will come to live!'_

_The whisper which run through the air made Mai shiver. But the laugh which rang after it terrified her even more..._

_"Mai...MAI!"_

Mai bolted up in her bad, her forehead meeting with other person's head. She fell on her bad again, hearing grunt coming from the other person. She opened her eyes to met the blue ones... but not the one she fell in love with, unfortunately. Gene was rubbing his forehead, Naru standing behind him with raised brow and Takigawa sitting on Ayako's bed, whose owner, supposedly, was still in the bathroom.

Mai looked around her, to make sure that she wasn't in this dark room anymore. She sighed with relief when she found out that she was in the dormitory.

"What's wrong?" Takigawa asked, seeing her looks around the room.

"I just a vision... I think that I know what happened to the missing girls." She said, her eyes filling with tears at the thought of death girls. They all were at her age, and now they life was ended. In terrible way from Mai had seen. She hated the meaningless killing. Well, she hated killing in general.

Naru waited few moment to let her collect her emotions. His face was perfectly unemotional, as always, but inside he was feeling pretty bad seeing her crying. Not that he would admit it to anybody, even himself, but he hated how many times he had already seen the trails of tears on her cheeks. It pained him too. In the corner of his eyes he could see his brother eyes, observing him for a moment. He was slightly surprised that Gene didn't say anything to him, this idiot would never miss occasion to tease him about Mai.

"What did you see, Mai?" he asked, turning his attention to his young assistant again, knowing that she was able to gave him coherent answer at this point.

Mai looked up on Naru and started to talk. The sooner she started the sooner she would finish. Thankfully, it didn't take a long to get to the end of her dream.

"You think we should inform the headmaster about it?" Takigawa asked looking on Naru.

"Not until we will find some proof on it." Naru answered, thinking about it.

"The headmaster doesn't look like a person who could believe in evidence by dreams." Gene said, speaking the thoughts of Mai.

She hadn't encountered the man that much, but every time she saw him, she had the feeling that he didn't want them there, as if they were some kind of

"Now we are able to tell why the voice which Mai heard was strange for her." Naru said suddenly. Mai looked on him with question in her eyes. "You said that their throat were cut so their vocal cords have to be cut also" he added, answering Mai's unasked question.

Mai shuddered. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that this case wouldn't be very good.

=G-H=

Red eyes glistened in the dark, cruelty and inhumanity present in them. The owner of the eyes looked around the room, enjoying the sight of his work, three bodies on the table. Two more and his destiny would be finally reached! He chuckled quietly and moved forward. The blood was splashing under his feet, the sound was relaxing him. Two girls, two who definitely are different than others... Smile blossomed on his lips. He definitely had his next two victim chosen. The only problem was to kidnap them with this psychic team going around...


	4. Contrahere lapidem IV

_A/N. I know that it was longer break than a week, but forgive me, the time before Christmas is always crazy and I had almost no free time. Esspecialy with the exams, they are terrible x.x_

_And for now, I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed previous chapters, this are: CodeHalo, , BloodyXandra, xSapphirexRosesxFanx (love your entusiasm :D), melovepicles16, HandsomeAngel._

_Cross Your Heard For Me: I can't tell you exactly what was going to happen on the end, because it would destroy the tense of the plot, don't you think? :D But I can tell you that headmaster is going to play pretty big role in this. Thanks for review by the way :D_

_And I know that I pretty much put John aside in the story but I will try to fix it, I promise. So please leave a review after you finish reading. ANd sorry if sorry if the chap isn't the best D_

_=G-H=  
_

Mai looked on the girls sitting in their base and felt like slapping her own forehead. Or maybe better their heads. It would hurt her less.

The team was in the room interviewing the students when they finished lessons. And they didn't have anything at all. Everyone just said that missing boys were usually hanging around the death girls. Although they didn't know that the girls were dead. And Naru hadn't corrected anyone yet, after all they didn't have any proof to back up Mai's dream and the headmaster wouldn't believe them only on words.

Mai felt the frustration growing inside of her. For now, the female body of the school had tried almost every trick in book to caught Naru's and Gene's attention. No matter what Naru was saying, she wasn't stupid. She herself was a teenage girl, so she could tell the signals. Long glances, sweet smiles, and now- fake tears. She could tell by the way the two girls in front of them were looking on both twins from time to time with hope in their eyes, but none of the boys moved to comfort them. And they had just said five minutes ago that they didn't know the victims personally! Pencil in Mai's hand almost snapped in half when one of the girl leaned on the table closer to Naru. Gene, who was sitting next to her looked on her surprised and then smirked.

"Someone is jealous?" he whispered to her, not interrupting the interview between his brother and two girls.

Mai glared on him.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" she snapped on him, even when the slight blush made its way slowly on her cheeks.

"Of course you don't." Gene was still smirking, turning his attention forward, not caring about the glare she sent his way.

Mai was going to say something but caught Naru's slightly narrowed eyes and stay quiet. Maybe she was a little jealous... but only a little!

"Are you sure that you don't need our help anymore, Shibuya-san?" one of the girl, with long blond hairs and pretty blue eyes asked when she and her friend stood up.

"No, thank you." He answered shortly, not taking his eyes from the paper in front of him.

'_Take that!' _Mai thought with triumph when both girls went out slowly from the class.

"Geez, we don't have anything!" Takigawa exclaimed, moving his hands behind him.

"It's just like they disappeared from the Earth..." Ayako said, resting her elbows on her knees.

"I think that girls were preoccupied with something else to answer the questions properly." Takigawa said with smile, looking on both teens.

"It's not my fault that females can't resist our looks." Gene said with smirk while Naru just decided to ignore it. Like always.

Before the conversation would carry on and get on Naru's nerves there was a knock to doors and after short 'Come in', two next students come in.

In one of them Mai recognized the girl from previous day, the one which she and Takigawa had met on the stairs. Now when they were in good lightened room she could tell that she had brown hair, slightly darker than her own and the most green eyes Mai had ever seen. Her companion was black haired girl with brown eyes. Naru looked up from his papers to see who came in.

"Your names, please?" he said, the list of students in front of him.

"Hyuga Cat and Kurona Shannon." The green eyed girl said, pointing first on herself and then on her friend.

This caught Naru's attention.

"You were in the class with one of the missing girls?" he asked rhetorically, pointing them to sit down on the chairs in front of the desk where he was sitting.

"Yes, with Miku." Shannon confirmed, nodding her head. "But we weren't really that close with her, she had her own group to hang out with.

"Was she connected in any way with one of the boys who disappeared?" Naru asked again, looking on them.

"No, I don't think..." Shannon started but was suddenly interrupted by her companion.

"She's seeing Luka secretly. They were going to announce it in this week but... well, you know, they disappeared." She earned surprised look from black haired girl.

"Megame Luka?" Naru asked for confirmation, glancing on the list again.

Cat nodded.

_"Maybe that's why they disappeared in the same time." _ Gene said suddenly to Naru and the younger twin looked on him from the corner of his eyes.

"_It's possible. But we have to confirm it."_

"They disappeared in the same time, right?" he asked loudly, as if he didn't know. The girls thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Did they know Imaki Kaname?"

"They did. Actually, it's pretty well-known fact that Kaname is deeply in love with Miku. But she always was refusing him, no matter how much he tried." Shannon said again, trying to remember something more than glancing on her friend as if asking silently for something.

"Is there anything more?" Naru asked, seeing the look. Mai wasn't surprised. Naru never ever missed anything.

"Well..." Shannon said, not sure if she should continue or not.

"The headmaster banned us to tell anything, but I think that the situation is too important to hide it." Cat take the lead and Mai could see that Shannon felt pretty relief because of that.

Naru looked on brown haired girl.

"Kaname had pretty... bad temper. Sometime he could get violent for no reason." Cat continued, furrowing her brows slightly. "Hewas stalking her, checking everything about her etc. There was one time when he tried to force Miku to date him..."

"Did he do something to her?" Mai interrupted unwillingly, feeling bad for the girl.

Naru glared on his poor assistant and Cat turned her green eyes on her.

"Actually no, she was lucky enough that someone was there to interrupt him. But when it didn't help him, he decided to do something else. I don't know how he did it, but he tried to do some kind of spell or something to attract her. But it didn't help..."

Naru's head snapped up from his papers and he narrowed his eyes, thinking about something.

"When did it happened?" he asked.

It was Shannon who answered him.

"It was around three months ago, when you..."

Before she was able to finish her sentence, the loud scream was heard from the corridor. Takigawa, Ayako, Lin and John quickly stood up and run out from the base, Naru closely behind him with Gene and Mai.

Mai's eyes widened when she saw the scene on the corridor. One of the girls who had been interviewed before was lying on the ground, the blood running from her head. The second was looking up terrified on something what was standing in front of her... Something was the only word Mai could use.

It wasn't human. And it wasn't ghost. It looked like the air, but thicker and in shape of human body. It reached his hands for the girl, but before it could grab her, whistle run through the air and two white strings of light went through the monster. Mai congratulated Lin his quick reaction. But then her eyes widened with shock and fear... The holes which had been made by Lin's shiki disappeared as quickly as appeared and the creature turn his head in their direction.

First thing which Mai felt was gust of wind. Then, without warning, every male member of the team with Ayako was pushed against the wall by strong wind, not able to move. Mai felt her heart stopped. Now she was alone in the middle of empty hall, the creature in front of her was slowly coming closer and closer... Mai could see it's red eyes bored into her, not allowing her to move or think clearly. She was terrified. She heard the screams of her co-workers, but still, she was too terrified. It was just like in the Prime Minister's house but now, Naru couldn't come to her rescue...

Suddenly, other figure appeared in front of her, shielding her from the monster. All she could see were brown hairs and white collar of the uniform shirt.

The creature stopped in his track, looking on the new opponent in front of him. Mai also was looking, surprised, as Cat raised her hand and whispered something under her breath, what sounded as: 'Lumo Circulo'. Suddenly, Mai felt hot. The waves of hit air coming from the girl in front of her brushed over her body when she was suddenly pulled away. When she turned around she looked straight in brown eyes of Shannon.

"It's not safe to be next to her when she is like that." Black haired girl said calmly.

Mai looked on her. How the hell she could be so calm when there was a monster in front of them and her friend was emitting inhumanly hot temperature? That was beyond her...

Shannon had to caught Mai's look because she smiled slightly.

"Don't worry, she knows what she is doing. Just look."

Mai turned her head to look on the scene in front. Cat's hair were moving slightly, moved by the hot air around her while the monster was twisting as if in pain. The hand, which the girl was holding in front of her, had warm red light around it. The same red air was also around the monster, making a circle around him. Cat closed her hand into a fist and it was just like small explosion was made at that time. The circle around the monster closed, and it disappeared. And with that, disappeared the power which hold the rest of the team.

"Mai!" Ayako quickly run to her and hugged her. "Oh my God, I thought that the monster is going to get you!"

"A-Ayako, I'm fine!" the girl said, trying to push the redhead from her. Really, sometimes she was overreacting...

"But what the hell was that?" Ayako continued, and let go of the girl to turn around and looked on the place where the monster was standing just moment ago.

Mai's eyes travelled in Naru's direction. The boy already stood up, looking with narrowed eyes on direction of her saviour, who herself was standing in the same spot with her head down. Mai could tell that his mind was already working on high speed, curious what the girl had just did.

"What is going on here?" The voice suddenly beamed from behind Mai and she turned around to look on the headmaster who was coming quickly in their ways.

"Mabara-sensei..." Shannon whispered next to Mai and her eyes travelled to her friend.

The older man only glared on the black haired girl before turning his attention on his other student.

"Hyuga, I should have known that you are the one making problems again!" he snapped on brown haired, who still had her back to the rest.

"Mabara-san." Naru interrupted him when the headmaster opened his mouth again to lecture the girl. "I'll be very glad if you show the way to the infirmary to my co-workers."

"What?" the man turned to him, surprised that someone interrupted him.

"Your two students are hurt." Naru's cold blue eyes glared straight into his. "I'm sure that you want to make sure that they are safe, aren't you?"

Mabara's cheeks turned slightly red.

"I have to take care about the one who did it!" he answered angrily, pointing his finger on Cat.

Mai blinked surprised on that.

"But Hyuga-san didn't do that!" she shouted before she could stop herself.

"I assure you, Mabara-san, that Hyuga-san together with Kurona-san were in our base at the time when the attack occurred." Naru said calmly. "The one who is the culprit is the one who are haunting your school. Now, if you would be so kind, show the way to infirmary, please." He added politely.

Mai was surprised when the man actually listened to Naru, turning without the word and going down the corridor, with Lin and Takigawa behind him, supporting the girls.

John and Gene walked closer to Cat and the priest gently touched her arm to earn the girl's attention.

"What the..." Gene said surprised when suddenly the girl swayed slightly and her knees gave up. He caught her before she hit the ground.

"Hyuga-san!" John quickly kneeled next to them and check her pulse. "She's fine, only unconscious."

Mai heard Shannon's sigh from her side and the girl said tiredly.

"She did it again..."


	5. Contrahere lapidem V

_A/N: So I wanted to thanks my reviewers, which are: HandsomeAngel, CodeHalo, lyra dethrow writer(sorry for mistake, I will fix it later ^^), BloodyXandra, Cross Your Heart For Me and xSapphirexRosesxFunx. You make me want to write :D_

_Ok, so next chapter and little of explanation of what's going on in this case. Hope you like it :D_

_=G-H=_

Mai looked on the unconscious girl who was lying in the infirmary. She turned her head to Shannon who was sitting on the end of the bed where her friend was resting.

Mai was... confused to tell the truth. Well, Naru had explained her once everything about PK and she couldn't guess what kind of power Cat had. It was different that Naru, but Mai had this strange feeling that it was as powerful as his. She didn't know _how _she knew it, maybe it was intuition or something, but she just knew.

"How long it will be last until she woke up?" Naru asked, moving his cols blue eyes in Shannon's direction.

The girl shrugged her shoulders slightly, looking on his friend.

"Depends. Sometimes it takes her twenty minutes or less, sometimes even all day." She answered truthfully, turning to him.

"What did she do just there?" Takigawa asked, interrupting Naru, who glared on him.

"Well, you see, she's someone who is called Tsukaite. She can use fire and warm to fight, usually with ghosts or other monsters. She is connecting the participates of warm air and then use it to defeat her opponent." Shannon answered, smiling slightly.

"Is she always ending unconscious?" Gene asked, leaning on the wall opposite the bed.

"Very often, unfortunately. Especially now. It's her third time in the infirmary during last two weeks." Shannon said, the shadow of worry passes through her face.

"Why is that?" Naru asked, looking on the girl unemotionally.

"Because whoever is causing the havoc in this school made her one of the victim. She is usually targeted after one of the girls disappeared but when she resists, it moved to another girl." Shannon answered him, earning his attention.

"So she was targeted few times?" he asked to confirm this information.

"But why?" Mai cut in, not able to stop herself and earning another glare from her boss.

"Because it's targeting every girl with even slightest psychical power." Came the slightly hoarse voice from the bed.

Mai turned around and brown met green.

"Oh, you are awake." Shannon said slightly surprised looking on her friend.

"And what is so strange about it?" Cat asked glancing on her friend.

"You slept half a minute shorter than last time." Shannon answered with innocent smile on her face.

"Don't tell me you were counting it..."

Shannon only smiled wider and Cat with Mai sweatdropped.

"What did you mean by that?" Naru cut in to stop pointless conversation.

Cat turned her eyes on him.

"That she was counting that before too." She answered calmly and if Mai saw correctly, there was small smile tugging in the corner of her mouth.

Naru glared on green eyes girl.

"You said that it is targeting people with psychical power." He repeated, not lowering his glare.

"Oh, that." Cat said as if it just dawned on her. "Every girl which disappeared is usually medium, only in one case, Miku has a low PK power, she can't move the object completely, only shake them on their place."

That surprised everyone, even small shadow of surprise made it's way through Naru's face.

"_That's definitely something new." _Gene connected with his twin, exchanging looks with him.

"_Yeah... but how many students with powers are left here?" _Naru answered in question, thinking deeply.

"How many students are here with PK powers?" Gene asked aloud, earning slight glare from his brother.

Cat thought for a moment.

"I think..." she stopped and surprise was evident on her face.

"Cat is the only person with abnormal powers." Shannon finished for her, also surprised.

Everyone looked on said girl who in return was watching Mai curiously. The brown eyes girl felt slightly uncomfortable under her gaze.

"I'm not the only one, am I right?" Cat asked her.

"How do you know that?" Naru asked her, feeling slightly protective to his assistant. Not that he would admit that to anyone.

"She has a power but not completely developed." Cat answered him, standing up from her bed.

"What do you mean?" Gene asked surprised.

If he could say, Mai was already pretty powerful medium, maybe even stronger that himself. Cat looked on the SPR team closely and smiled.

"You will find in the right time." She answered, still smiling slightly and moved in the direction of the doors.

"Is she okay moving just after waking?" Takigawa asked Shannon who was still sitting on the bed.

"I think that she is enough stubborn to be okay." She answered politely.

"It's possible that she will be targeted now." Ayako said for the first time.

Shannon only smiled.

"Cat is able to protect herself. I think that you should watch out for Taniyama-san." She said, smiling reassuringly on the girl.

_'There is no reason to smile' _Mai thought, sweatdropping.

"Now, please excuse me, I have to check if my friend isn't laying somewhere on the stairs." She said, bowing slightly and going out from the room after Cat.

_'Didn't she say that she would be all right?' _everyone thought, looking on the doors.

Naru was watching Mai closely. Again, she was in danger and he didn't know if he would be able to protect her. Sure, he had powers which allowed him to do that, but what if he would be too late? What if it wasn't enough? He shook his head. Sometimes he couldn't understand why thoughts like that were attacking him. He had more important things to do than worrying about his stupid assistant. Of course, if something happened to her he would have too much paperwork to fill. At least, he was convincing himself that it was the case.

Gene smiled watching his brother. He knew perfectly well what was going on in younger twin's head. He wandered how long Naru would deny himself his feelings.

"Mai." Naru said and she turned her head in his direction. "You are not allowed to move on your own. Make sure that Takigawa, Matsuzaki, Lin or myself are with you when you are walking around."

"And what with me?" Gene asked, furrowing his brows.

"You are completely useless when it comes to protect from ghosts." Naru only glanced on his brother with slight smirk.

It was always like that: one twin to fight, second to collect information.

"You are terrible younger brother."

"Always at your service." Naru answered on his brother whining and turned to Lin. "Try to check in some way if anyone in the school except Hyuga-san has some king of PK power. And contact Madoka." He ordered, turning around.

"What for?" the Chinese man asked, surprised. Usually Naru would avoid contacting his sensei.

"Ask her about Tsukaite and tell her to collect every information about them."

With that, he walked out from the room.

=G-H=

Mai was sleeping peacefully in her bed. That was, until she had a dream again.

=G-H=

_ A boy around her age was standing alone in dark room, which looked like some basement, but different from the one from last dream. In this one there were spider's webs around and it looked like nobody was there for some time. Mai walked closer to the boy. He was pulling some things from his bag, smirk present all the time on his face. Mai looked on his face closely. She had seen him somewhere... Than it dawned on her. It was one of the missing boy! What was his name... oh yeah, Hyuga-san said it today! Imaki Kaname. Mai furrowed her brows. What the hell he was doing there?_

_ Kaname put out candles from his bag and a chalk together with old book. Mai watched as he draw some kind of circle around himself and figures in it... pentagram. But why he needed it? It didn't took him long to finish his work perfectly, as if he had already done it before few times. Then he put candles on five place around the circle. _

_"I have a bad feeling about it..." Mai thought, shivering slightly. Something wasn't right with the air in the empty room. _

_ Kaname finished his work and took a place inside the circle. He closed his eyes and took a knife from his pocket. Mai's eyes widened when he cut his hand, allowing the blood to drop from his hand on the ground, exactly in the middle of the circle. He started to whispering something and Mai moved closer to hear it._

_''_Qui invoco servitutem  
Potentissimi omnium servus  
Precipio vobis vocem mihi responsum  
Precipio tibi grandia vota  
Ut award sum vobis dare libertas'

_Mai wasn't the best in language, but she guessed that it was in Latin. But she didn't understand a single word from it. _

_Then, the wind moved around the room, moving Kaname's clothes. Air around him turned black, as if something was surrounding him. The boy with great effort moved his arm to and took single, red stone from his pocket. _

_ In the sound of the wind Mai almost missed the sound of something rasping behind her. _

_"What the hell you are doing?" Mai turned around to look at now familiar figure of Hyuga Cat, who was standing at the doorstep, looking slightly out of breath and her green eyes were widely open. _

_ Kaname took his eyes from the stone and looked on his fellow student. The wind had calmed down and black air which was surrounding him disappeared inside the stone which now was resounding in red light._

_"Hyuga, didn't expect you here." The boy said calmly, smirk on his face. _

_"Do you even have idea what you have done?" Cat shouted on the boy, something flashing in her eyes. Mai actually felt slightly scared of the girl. _

_"Of course I know." Kaname answered her. "I just made sure that my every wish will be granted." Laughed, tossing the stone in the air and catching it. _

_"You fool! It won't grant you wishes, it will destroy you." Cat snapped on him, walking into the room. "Give me the stone." She ordered, pulling her hand to him._

_"No way in hell!"_

_"You will go to hell if you won't listen to me! Give me it!" _

_"Never!"_

_"You idiot, you…!" _

_Everything was cut short when the strange sound came out from the stone. Kaname looked on it surprised and Cat frozen on her spot. Mai could see it. Almost invisible, but it was there. Something came out from the stone and went straight into Kaname's body while the stone still resounded the light. He bowed his head._

_"Of course I won't give it to you." The voice which came out from Kaname was different this time. He snapped his head up and looked on the girl in front of him. Mai gasped in horror. His eyes were red… and the murderous aura around him was giving her nauseas feeling. "Why should I?"_

_Mai turned to Cat who was looking on the boy with widened her eyes. Then she sighed._

_"So I was too late, huh?" she asked and smirked. "But I won't let you free."_

_Kaname laughed. _

_"Do you really think that you, simple Tsukaiki would stop me?" he asked, smiling evilly. "But good, I will kill you first."_

_The speed in which he moved was terrifying. Mai even didn't know when he suddenly was standing in front of Cat. The girl backed slightly but too slow. He grabbed her by her neck and lifted her._

_Mai's eyes widened. If she didn't knew better she would thought that Cat was going to die._

_"So, how does it feel when you are dying?" Kaname, or better something inside him, asked. _

_"S-screw… you…" Cat was somehow able to spat and reached her hand to rest it on his chest. Her hand glowed and Kaname was tossed on the wall behind him. _

_Mai wanted to run to the girl to help her but she knew that it was no use. _

_ Cat fall on the floor coughing when the air filled her lungs._

_"You bitch!" Kaname shouted when he stood up. _

_He was in front of the girl in no time, but when he leaned closer to her, Cat quickly spoon around and tossed the sand which was covering the floor into his eyes. Kaname shouted in pain, covering his eyes with one hand, while the second was still holding the stone. Cat used his short time weakness and quickly kick the stone from his hand. _

_It was as if Kaname froze for a second than he dropped to the ground, unconscious. _

_"What's going on here?" the new voice run from the doorstep. Mai turned around. "Hyuga!"_

_"Mabara-sensei!" Cat answered, standing up and swaying slightly._

_"I don't want to hear sny stupid explanation from you!" the headmaster shouted, not even allowing Cat to speak. _

_"But…"_

_"No buts! You are going straight to my office!" he grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her from the room. "Kalu-sensei, please take Imaki-san to the infirmary."_

_The red stone wa lying in the corner, forgotten by now._

=G-H=

Mai woke up startled, her eyes wide open and cold. She kewn that she would have a lot to explain to Naru.

=G-G=

_A/N: Pretty, pretty please review ;]_


	6. Contrahere lapidem VI

_A/N: I'm really, really sorry for long break. It's already a month... but I had an exams at my University and spent most of my time at the books... It was pain in the neck, but I survived it. _

_I'm sorry if this chapter has some loose ends, but i wrote it in the middle of the night. I will try to fix them ^^"_

_And again, thanks to my reviewers, you are always making me feeling better :D_

_HandsomeAngel: It was vision of the past, just like I explained it in this chapter :D_

_=G-H=_

Deciding that waking Ayako up was impossible, Mai left her room alone. After all, it wasn't that long way to Naru's room, right? She could do it herself. It was just in the end of the long corridor… she was on the beginning. Mai shook her head. Don't think about what could go wrong… don't think about what could go wrong…

In the middle of the corridor she stopped in her track, listening. She was almost sure that she heard something… Chills run down her back, frizzing her in one place. Something was behind her, she could tell that much. She turned around almost achingly slowly, too afraid to look and too curious to not look. When she turned fully she blinked surprised. Nothing was there.

'_Strange.'_ She thought, turning around after inspecting the corridor behind her. '_I was sure that something was there.'_

She looked up on the way which left her to Naru's door and her eyes widened with fear and surprise. Two red eyes glared on her in answer, the monster from earlier just four meters in front of Mai, waiting on her as a lion would wait on its pray.

Mai opened her mouth to scream, to alarm Naru or the rest of their team. But she couldn't let any words left her mouth. Not from the fear, it wasn't the reason. She could feel the air around her moving. And it was strange. It felt as if someone was wrapping her into a blanket, tightly, blocking the air from getting into her lungs clearly, only in small amount. Too small to remain conscious.

Mai felt the world around her spinning. Her eyelids were dropping slowly. She was watching the monster in front of her, unmoving, only his red eyes were all the time rested on her. Suddenly, she remembered the vision from some time ago, about the girls in dark room. She knew that if it get to her now, she would finish just like them. Kidnapped and dead.

'_Someone… please help me…' _ She thought, shutting her eyes close.

She suddenly felt cold inside. As if the warm was sucked from her by something. She heard some shouting from behind her, but she didn't what It was, or who it was. She lost her consciousness.

=G-H=

"… I woke up and she wasn't there!"

Mai was slowly coming to her senses and Ayako loud voice was first thing she heard. Well, it was almost impossible to miss it, after all. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were too heavy.

"You were assigned to guard her, yet you allowed her to go out alone in the night."

That voice belonged to Naru, Mai could recognize it everywhere. And he was pretty pissed, by the sound of it.

"I didn't allow her to do anything!"

Uh-oh. It looked like Ayako was getting a piece of Naru's mind. But why? Mai thought for a moment, her eyes still closed. Then it dawned on her. She hadn't woken up Ayako…

She slowly opened her eyes, hissing quietly when the light of the lamp hit her eyes. She blinked few times, adjusting her sight better.

"Oh, you are awake." She looked on her right on smiling face of Gene.

Ayako's and Naru's voices stopped the bickering and the two of them turned their attention to the younger girl. Ayako looked relieved while Naru glared on her. She expected that she was going to earn a lecture from him as well.

"Mai, thank God!" Takigawa shouted and his blond head showed in Mai's line of seeing. "We thought that you are going to sleep forever."

"I'm fine, Bou-san, don't worry." Mai smile to the monk, who had worry clearly written on his face. Like always when his 'little sister' was getting hurt.

"May you explain us _why _you decided to go out of your room _alone_ when you were told not to do that?" Naru asked calmly. Too calmly for Mai's liking.

"I had a dream. And I…" she tried to explain herself only to interrupted.

"Couldn't it wait until morning?" Naru asked again, watching her with cold eyes.

Mai gawked on him. Naru- the workaholic- suggesting that something could wait? It wasn't like him at all! She would rather expect from him to be angry if she waited with some information. And she like hell didn't expect to suggest it to her. Not in her lifetime.

Now when she was thinking about it, waiting until the morning was really better option than walking in the night through the corridor haunted by something. And Naru was probably sleeping as well at that time, just like the rest of the team.

"I-I didn't think about that…" she answered honestly, bending her head and looking on the covers of her bed.

"Exactly." Naru said.

He looked on the girl in front of him. He knew that he had made her sad, _again, _ but her was really worried about her. When he had woken up after hearing some noises from the corridor, he had gone to check it. Seeing Mai, lying on the floor, pale as death and unmoving, made him froze on his place. For a second he thought that she was really gone.

"Mai, don't you dare go alone ever again!" Ayako said, sitting next to the younger girl, pulling Naru out of his thoughts. "whatever is haunting this school almost got you there!"

"Yeah, you were lucky that Hyuga-san were able to reach you. If she didn't…" Takigawa shivered slightly at the thought of what could happen to the youngest member of the team if the brown haired girl didn't show up.

Mai looked up on him surprised. So it was Cat who had saved her. For a moment she thought that it was Naru who was her knight in shining armor, but well… the most important thing was that she was saved… again.

"Anyway, what was this dream about, Mai?" Naru asked, changing into work mode.

Mai almost smiled. It was old Naru back, gladly. She told them the whole dream, trying to remember every little detail, taking a little longer when it come to the chant, but eventually was able to went through this.

"I see." Naru said thoughtfully when she finished.

"Pretty creepy." Ayako said, chill running down her spin. "Is it possible that this boy summoned a demon?"she looked on Naru to confirm her suspicion, but he looked in front of him, thinking about something.

"He could summon everything. The part of his chant meant: 'as a reward, I will grant you your freedom.'" It was Gene who replied her, his brows furrowed slightly. "Every creature from hell who want to get free would answer that. We don't know what he wanted to summon in the first place."

"Hell?" Mai looked on the older twin.

"Yes, Mai. Hell." Naru cut in before his brother could say something. "There is very little summon spells in the entire world which can call something from heaven, which is the place, where souls are resting in peace. They don't have any interest in answering calls like that. However, hell is different case. You should know from school what kind of people goes to hell after death. For them, answering the summoning like this is great opportunity to reach their own desire after possessing the inexperienced caller. That's why summoning the ghost is forbidden in every religion and society circle."

"So, in the end we don't know what we are dealing with?" Takigawa asked, after moment of silence.

"No. But there is a way to find out." Naru answered and glanced on Lin who nodded his head.

"Gene, go find Hyuga-san. She will be needed there."

Gene nodded his head on his brother wish before walking out from the room.

"What are you going to do?" Mai asked curiously, sitting on her bed.

"Lin is going to use his shiki to recognize whatever was in this room that night. Hyuga-san, who was in direct contact with possessed person, will be one of the clue." He explained her. Normally he didn't have enough patience to explain anything to someone, but with Mai it was different case. Wander why? "Get dressed and meet with the rest in base. You don't want to walk around in you pajama."

With that, Naru left the room together with Lin.

=G-H=

After asking some students, who were on their way to their classes, Gene found himself in front of the door to room 66. He knocked and waited for a moment. When no one answered he knocked for a second time. But still nothing.

"Excuse-me?" he turned around when someone spoke from behind him to meet face to face with Shannon. "You need something from Cat?" she asked, smiling politely.

"Actually yes. We have few questions to her about the case." He answered, not wanting to say too much. He didn't know how much the girl knew after all. "But it looks like she isn't in her room."

"Oh, she is, don't worry about that." Shannon answered with wider smile. "She is just sleeping with her headphones, like always."

With that, she moved to the door, opening them without knocking.

"Come in, I will get her up in a second."

Gene hesitated for a moment, but seeing that black haired girl disappeared already in the room, he went inside. Shannon was already leaning over her friend, taking her headphones from her ears.

"Cat, can you go with me for a moment?" she asked quietly her.

Gene was watching curious as the second girl mumbled something incoherent, clearly still asleep, but stood up from the bed with help of her friend. He furrowed his brows when Shannon lead second girl, who was unaware of what was going on around her, to, as he suspected judging by his own temporary room, the bathroom.

"A moment please." Shannon smiled on him before closing the door.

He stood there, not really knowing what to do. He raised his brows on the sound of running water and a loud shriek, which followed not even second after.

Shannon emerged from the bathroom with satisfied smile on her face, followed but angry mumbling from a bathroom, indicating that Cat wasn't very happy with the way she was woken up.

"She is going to be ready in five minutes." The black haired girl said, still smiling and going to the door. "Now excuse me, I have to go."

With that, she go out from the room, leaving him alone. And just like she said, five minutes later, fully clothed Cat came out from the bathroom, glaring on the door from under her wet fringe. She moved her eyes to him and slight surprise flashed in her eyes.

"I was expecting Taniyama-san." She said, moving to get her shoes. "Something happened that you need me?"

For a second Gene wanted to give her the same answer as to Shannon, but decided that it would be better to answer straight.

"We found out about the summoning spell which was casted here." He said, looking on her to catch her reaction. She blinked surprised.

"How do you know about that?" she asked.

"We've got our sources." He answered. He wandered why she had hidden it during their previous interview with Naru.

"Anyway." He continued. "I was sent here to ask you if you are willing to help us." He asked, remembering what his brother said him before he had walked out from the room.

Cat smiled with the counter of her mouth.

"Do I have any choice?"

=G-H=

Red eyes narrowed dangerously, watching from hidden spot brown haired girl and black haired boy who were accompanying her with sparks of anger in his eyes. Yes, she gave him so much trouble since the beginning. Since the very beginning of his little haunt. And recently, she already interrupted him twice in taking his newest victim, His _very special_ newest victim, he thought with sick smile on his face. Oh yeah, the little medium girl was just perfect for his collection, fitting into the place just like the girl who was walking in front of him. He took his mind from the light brown haired victim, who was making him unsettled since the day she had arrived with the rest of her group, and moved his attention on two people in front of him. This one may be troublesome, but she still is one of the choosen. One of his victim. And that means that she was him. No one else. So why she was alone with that guy? Red eyes narrowed further. That's why the boy had to be moved from the scene. Just like the second one, who looked just the same…

=G-H=

_Plese, leave a word if you like it or not :D_


	7. Contrahere lapidem VII

_A/N: Sorry for short chapter after the long break. Now, seeing as I have longer break from my university studies, i will try to write one more chapter this week. So please forgive me :D_

_=G-H=_

Cold blue clashed with careless green.

Mai wandered how long the silence in the base would be continuing. From the moment Gene came to the room with Cat, nothing was said. And it was five minute already. First, Naru had gone through the notes which Lin had taken after Mai told them about her dream, than he stared at the student. It was really uncomfortable. At least for the young assistant, she didn't have any idea how the other girl could stay under this glare without twitching.

"You hide some information during our interview last time." Naru said accusingly, looking coldly on her.

"Actually I didn't hide it." Cat answered, shrugging her shoulder. "I wanted to tell you, but couldn't, seeing as there was the attack."

"Why didn't you inform us about it later?"

_'He is acting as if she was his subordinate.'_ Mai thought, thinking about how many times she herself experienced such interrogation from her boss. Never pleasant event.

"It's kind of slipped of my mind." Cat answered not really caring about the glare send in her direction.

"I would be very grateful if you would inform us about everything you know and what would be significant about the case my team is dealing with now." Naru's voice didn't left any room for discussion.

"What I know, huh?" Cat thought for a moment, looking up on the ceiling and sighing slightly, before sitting more comfortably on the chair. "We should start with the ritual, I think. You know why Kaname decided to do it?"

"He said something about his wishes…" Mai said, thinking about her dream from the night.

Cat looked on her for a moment than nodded.

"His greatest wish was to earn affection of Miku. When his normal methods failed, he decided to play with black magic." She continued, her voice serious. "I don't know where he was able to lie his hands on the stone of his, but that's definitely not something what could be easily found. I know only one place where things like that are. And they are still on there, that's for sure. Especially that knowledge about existence of thing like that is very rare.'

Naru looked completely in thought for a moment, than his face turned into shocked expression, just like Lin's and Gene's

"Don't tell me…" the Chinese man started, looking on the younger girl with slightly widened eyes.

Cat nodded her head.

"Contrahere lapidem, in translation- Stone of Contract." She finished his sentence.

Four pair of eyes looked on the rest without understanding.

"Stone of Contract?" Mai asked, looking on Naru as if asking him to explain.

"There is the old belief about four stones from dip of the hell, given to human in order to lure them into taking pact with devils and demons." He answered her after a moment of silence. "By owning something like that, person is suddenly very aware of psychic world. They can see every ghost and other spiritual creatures. It's also helping in recognizing people with PK or medium powers."

Naru paused for a moment, turning his face to the window and looking through it.

"But the worse is the fact that the stones have something as their own mind. In reality, they have closed into it a part of demon. Slowly, the owner of the stone feels more urgent need to summon something. They starts to have strange dreams and visions. And after some time, willingly only in their own eyes, people summons the demon from the stones, without being aware what is really happening."

"What happens with the owner of the stone?" Takigawa asked, listening curiously to everything what Naru was saying. It was the first time he had ever heard about something like that.

"Usually they dies, being killed by the demon they summoned on their owns. Their soul is sent to serve him for all eternity." Gene was the one who answered him.

Mai shivered unwillingly. Serving the demon for whole eternity…

"Is something like that even possible to exist?" Ayako asked skeptically.

"It's very rare, just like the old miko, but not impossible." Naru answered her and Mai sweatdropped when the miko reddened on her face from anger.

"How the normal student from elite school could find about something like this?" Takigawa asked again, looking on everyone.

"I tried to talk about it with Kaname after he summoned the thing, but he was avoiding me, no matter what I tried." Cat said.

"Where is the stone now?" Naru turned his eyes on the girl, but she only shook her head.

"No idea. I know that Kaname dropped it during our fight, but when I came back to the room from detention it was nowhere to be found. I also know that he didn't take it back, since he was unconscious for two days in the infirmary."

"So we still don't know who is the culprit." Mai sighed under her breath.

"Well, the main culprit is Kaname boy, since he was the one who did summoning." Gene said from his spot next to the wall. "But the question is who took the lead after he was out of game."

"There is one more thing." Cat said, earning attention of the SPR again. "Whoever took it, gained power of Tsukaite."

"So the guy who is doing it have the same powers as yours?" Takigawa looked surprised on the news.

"Similar, but not the same."

"But he didn't attack me with the warm." Mai stated thoughtfully, remembering two times when she was attacked.

"And that's the difference." Cat smiled to her slightly. "He is using air as the source of power. And he is very good at it, seeing how he was able to create the monsters."

There was a moment of silence when everybody were processing the amount of new informations.

"Back to the subject." Naru said suddenly, glancing on the paper in front of him. "The room where it happened- where it is?" he asked.

Mai remembered the dark room without windows and shivered slightly. She didn't feel like coming there personally this time.

"Well, it's one of the secret rooms hidden around the school."

"Secret rooms?" Mai blinked surprised. Things like that always reminded her about the detectives stories she once had read when she was in primary school.

"It's not very uncommon in old buildings like that to have an architect to build few hidden rooms for the owners." Gene said to her, leaning on the wall with crossed arms. "without windows, with strange doors and things like that."

Mai nodded her head in understanding. The building was like castle anyway, so she shouldn't be surprised by something like that.

"How many rooms like that are here?" naru asked, while Lin started taping something on his laptop.

"I know about three." Cat answered after a moment of thinking. "but that doesn't mean that there aren't more." She added, shrugging her shoulders.

Naru nodded, thinking about something.

"Seeing us you are able to protect herself, I have an offer to you." He said, earning surprised glances not only from the girl in question, but also from his team.

"What is it about?" Cay asked, her green eyes flashing with curiosity.

"I want you to show us the way around the school ground to find the secret rooms. Also, you will move into the room with Mai and Matsuzaki-san. In that way we will have easier way to contact you." He explained.

Mai looked on him with shocked expression. Naru just asked someone for help? It was completely not like him.

'_You are asking someone for help?' _Gene's voice run suddenly in Naru's head.

_'No. I'm just being careful.' _ Was the younger twin's answer.

_'In what way?'_

_'Seeing as she is also the target of the thing, having close eye on her would be smart thing. Also she would be able to stop the attack if it occure during the night again. And she is the only person here available to show us the rooms.' _Naru explained his action without changing his expression.

_'So, in some way you want her to be Mai's bodyguard. Everything for the woman you love.' _Gene smirked when his brother's eyes flashed dangerously.

_'You're becoming bigger idiot every day.'_

"Ok, I accept you offer." Cat's answer interrupted twins conversation. "Only if you will be able to talk the headmaster into it."

"That would be my concern." Naru said, nodding his head. Just like he expected.

Mai suddenly felt shiver running down her spin. She turned to the window. She had this strange feeling that someone was watching them from that direction. For a moment she thought that she saw something red, but as quickly and she thought it, it disappeared.

=G-H=

_Please review and tell me what you think about it :D_


	8. Contrahere lapidem VIII

_A/N: As the apologize for long break between last chapters, I'm updating second in two days :D_

_I know, it's pretty short but the second one will be longer, promise. _

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed my story so far, I'm really enjoying your reviews. And it gives me more motivation to write more, don't forget about it :D_

_So enjoy this chapter and leave me a word about it. ;]_

=G-H=

Old, gloomy corridors were empty as they were passing them.

Mai, Gene and Takigawa were following Cat, who was said to lead them to the secret room where Kaname had summoned the demon. It took actually pretty much time for Naru to convince the headmaster to let one of his student, especially Hyuga girl, to help them and give her free absences from lessons, co it was already dawn when they were walking.

Mai looked through one of big windows. The sky was covered by dark clouds, indicating that it was going to rain very soon. She shivered. She really hated storms. Especially when she was in dark and scary corridor with portraits of dead people looking down on her. Really, the eyes on the paints were so real, that she felt as if they were following her every move. And it wasn't nice feeling.

Suddenly, she stopped, causing Gene to bumped into her from behind, where he was walking. Something was on the corridor, something different than the portraits. She felt this in every part of her body. The sudden fear attacked her, but she didn't know what it was.

"Mai, what's going on?" Takigawa asked, while Gene and Cat were watching the girl with worried expression, since her face was clearly showing fear.

Mai looked around the empty corridor, in every moment awaiting the ghost or monster to jump from the corner. But nothing happened. Everything was perfectly still, except the three people with her.

"I-I don't know… I just felt something." She answered on monk's question.

She looked on Gene. He was also looking around, what told her that he felt something too.

"What was it?" Cat asked, looking on her.

"Fear." Mai said without hesitation. She had felt this so many times before that she knew perfectly how to describe it. "As if someone was watching us. And it wasn't the portraits."

"The portraits?" Cat asked, little confused. She looked on the paints, but nothing was out of normality with them.

"I always have this feeling that they are watching me when I'm passing them." Mai laughed slightly, a little ashamed by her imagination.

Cat looked on one of the portraits again and thought about it for a moment.

"Well, their eyes really are creepy." She said, nodding her head. "I think that I just get used to it."

She smiled to Mai and she answered with the same.

"But anyway, we should be going." She continued, turning around. "The library where the room is, is close and the atmosphere there won't be so dark and gloomy."

They moved after her again, but this time, more suspicious about their surroundings. Never before Mai was wrong with her feeling, so Takigawa and Gene weren't very keen to be attacked again.

Suddenly, all of them felt strange noise. Something was moving against something, shuffle was being able to hear from one spout. They stopped and Takigawa automatically prepared himself to his chant, just in case.

Then, they perfectly saw what was emitting the noise. One of the hige paintings on the wall started to fall on the ground.

Just were Mai stood.

"Mai!" Takigawa shouted, but he was too far to help her.

She didn't even have time to scream for help.

=G-H=

Ayako and John were quickly moving to the dorms, being given orders by Naru. They were going to check if something strange wasn't going there, just in case.

Ayako looked up on the sky, sighing deeply.

"Geez, I hate the rain!" she exclaimed suddenly. In a moment like that she regretted that Takigawa wasn't there with her, at least she would have someone to let her irritation on. John was too innocent to hit him without reason. "it's always giving me depressing feeling."

"It's going to be dark soon." The young priest said, also looking up on the dark sky. "We should be going before it starts rain."

"It's going to be really creepy inside the school in that weather." The redhead stated when they went into the path surrounded by trees.

Suddenly, strong wind started to blow, messing with their clothes and hairs.

"What the hell?" Ayako shouted, raising her head to her head. "My hair will be ruined!"

Suddenly, they heard a loud crack from above. Both of them exchanged worried glances before looking up. Ayako had only time to scream loudly, before branch fall on both of them.

=G-H=

Naru was on the phone talking to Madoka. It was only five minutes, but he already felt the headache coming. Well, it was better to talk to her by phone than face to face. Currently, she was complaining that they didn't call her on the case. Lin was working on his laptop, like always, collecting some information from sources known only to him.

Suddenly, both of them heard loud scream, which startled them a little.

"Madoka, I've to finish." Naru said, not even waiting for her answer before closing his phone."Lin!"

The Chinese man was already next to the door, ready to go out. They both run outside the school in the direction where the scream had been coming from.

They neared to the path leading to dorms and looked around.

"Naru, something is there." Lin said, pointing on something between trees. They both came closer to examine it.

Naru's eyes widened slightly on the sight of his two coworkers, lying unconscious under the bench.

"Lin, call an ambulance." He ordered, running in their direction.

=G-H=

Just before the paintings fell on Mai, something collided with her body, sending her on the ground, together with the subject which hit her. She closed her eyes as her head hit the ground and she felt slightly dizzy for a moment. She groaned, and waited for few moments before opening her eyes again. She knew from experience that she shouldn't hurry after hitting her head. When she was able to open her eyes without dizziness, she saw who saved her from the impact with painting.

Cat was sitting on the ground next to her, massaging her knee which she hit when they both fell on the ground. She smiled to lying girl.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Mai nodded her head. She heard quick steps coming in their direction and after a moment she was hoisted up by monk, who started examining her head.

"Are you ok? No dizziness? Want to throw up? Gladly, there is no blood." He started to mumbling, running his hand over her head to find out any sign of wound.

"Bou-san, I'm perfectly fine!" she said, pushing his hand away.

"I was worried about you! My little Mai got hurt again!" Takigawa started gushing over her, pulling her into hug.

Mai could only sigh. Sometimes she wandered if the monk was in his right state of mind.

"Bou-san, let go of me." She pushed him away.

"No one understands my worry anymore." The older man started to faking cry and Mai only sweatdropped.

She turned to Cat and saw that the girl was already on her feet with help of Gene. The green eyed girl went closer to the fallen portraits, looking over it.

"It looks like the nails are broken." She said, slightly furrowing her brows in thought.

"If they were old that it's nothing strange in it." Takigawa said, coming closer.

"The problem is that they were change two months ago on new ones." Cat explained, looking around the corridor. "They are solid, since one of the paintings fall on the teacher previously. The headmaster decided to not let something like that happen again. The nails shouldn't just break like that."

"So you think that something helped them?" Gene asked when together with Mai they came closer to the remaining two.

Cat nodded her head in answer.

"maybe we should move to the library." Mai suggested with slight worry in her voice.

Well, she just was saved from being crushed.

"Shouldn't we tell someone about the painting?" Takigawa asked, pointing on the said subject.

"Nah, leave it that way. The janitor will take care about it." Cat answered and looked through the window when the dropes of rain started falling.

Suddenly, the lighting cut the air and they all jumped startled. Because of it, they didn't hear the ambulance which arrived.


	9. Contrahere lapidem IX

_Corrected by: cryinglullaby_

=G-H=

"It's huge…" Mai said in amusement, looking around.

The room where they were currently in was at least five meters high and inside was about twenty wide with bookshelves, and pretty much free space between them. For anyone who loved to read, it was like utopia.

Too bad Mai didn't belong to that group.

"It's the biggest room in whole school." Cat explained, glancing around at the students gathered in library. Few of them looked curiously who just arrived, and to Mai's horror she recognized three girls which had been previously flirting with Naru.

She was suddenly very glad that he wasn't with them.

They eyed Gene with interest in their eyes, but when their eyes felt on Cat who was next to the boy, they suddenly turned away. Mai blinked in surprise and looked at the girl.

"Are they scared of you?" she asked her, pointing on the girls.

"Hmm?" Cat asked, following the direction. "Oh, you're talking about them." She smirked slightly. "The blond one is my roommate, unfortunately. They aren't scared of me, but we're not on the best terms with each other. I think one of the reasons is that one time when I accidentally burned her skirt."

Mai nodded her head in understanding. For some reason she wasn't feeling bad for blond girl.

"So you're like little kitty with temper." Gene said suddenly with smirk on his face.

Cat glared at him.

"Call me that again and you will have something burned." She warned, moving through the shelves.

"Noted." He answered, when they all moved after her.

They went through the whole library before Cat stopped behind the last bookshelf. There was free space between it and the wall, allowing them to move freely there. Mai, Takigawa and Gene watched as she ran her hand over the wall, looking for something. When she found it, she smiled slightly and pushed one of the rocks on the wall. There was a quiet noise following it, but not loud enough for other people in the library to hear it. After a moment, a hole in the wall appeared in the shape of a door. She went inside it and the rest, after exchanging glances, followed her.

The room was identical as the one Mai saw in her dream. She looked at the floor where Kaname had painted the pentagram in her dream, and it was there in its whole glory, maybe a little paler and covered in dust. Then she moved her eyes to the place where the stone fell, but as expected, nothing was there. That would be too easy.

"Do you feel something?" Gene asked Mai, who shook her head. "Me neither."

Mai felt relief on that. Nothing was there, thankfully.

"Kaname draw it?" Takigawa asked, bending over the pentagram and examining it.

"Yeah, without it he wouldn't be able to summon anything." Cat explained, looking on the drawing which she knew too well already. "He also needed to use his own blood to do it."

Mai shivered when she remembered the dream. She remember when the boy cut his hand.

"Creepy." Gene stated, looking around small room. "Anyway, the stone was dropped somewhere here, wasn't it?" he asked.

"It dropped somewhere there, near the wall." She answered, pointing to the wall on the right from the doors. "When I came back to get it, it wasn't here anymore."

"Who could have nit?" Mai wondered aloud.

"Everyone who knew about the room and came here." Takigawa said, standing up.

"So the person who picked it is behind this all?" Mai looked on everyone.

"Probably." Gene answered. "But we can't suspect anything without being sure. How many people know about it?" he looked at Cat.

She shrugged.

"No idea, no one is talking about things like these around." She answered, her eyes on the pentagram.

"Is there another exit or is this it?" Takigawa asked suddenly, earning the attention of everyone.

"Actually there is." Cat answered, moving to the wall next to the pentagram. Mai saw that the girl flinched slightly when she went through the pentagram. "But no matter how long I tried I never figured out how to open it." She knocked lightly on the wall and empty sound ran thoughout the small room. "It only sounds like that here. Takigawa-san, can you give me a light?" she asked and monk handed her his flashlight which she took form base with him. She pointed the light to the wall. "here is small cut, when you examine it closer it really look like shape of a door." She ran her finger along the wall.

"You are right." Gene said, examining it.

He tried to push, but it didn't budge, even with the help of Takigawa. There wasn't any button to open on the surrounding walls.

"We have to come with Naru here." He said, after their attempts failed. "He is the scientist here after all. If it doesn't help, we will ask headmaster if we can destroy this part of the wall."

"Oh, I'm sure he will be thrilled." Cat said with sarcasm, moving away from the wall.

"Was he always like that?" Mai asked. She didn't has much sympathy for headmaster, especially when he suspected Cat without reason.

"You mean the headmaster?" Cat asked and Mai nodded her head. "Actually no. it happened not long after the disappearances occurred. Before he was more friendly to students. Everyone thinks that it's because the stress. After all, few parents want to take a case to the court." She explained, walking towards the door.

"Why?" Takigawa asked surprised. He remembered that one of the girls said that the parents didn't care much about their children.

"Because the school didn't take good enough care about students. And the case would be loud in media. You know, more publicity, more cash." Cat shrugged her shoulders.

Mai furrowed her brows. Could parents really be that heartless to their children?

After a moment they all were out of the room. Cat pushed the stone again, causing the door to close. Now when Mai looked closer she could actually tell that the stone was different from the rest of the wall.

"How did you find this room?" she asked the girl next to her when they exited from behind the shelf.

"By accident." She answered. "I dropped my phone and it landed under the bookshelf, so I had to come to the other side to pick it up. I slipped on something and used the wall for stability. I had to push the stone, because the door suddenly opened by itself."

"Well, it was lucky that you found it." Takigawa said, walking behind the girls. "At least now we know where to look."

Mai suddenly stopped, looking for something in her pocket. She looked at the rest with unhappy expression.

"I lost my lucky key in that room." She explained, looking in the second pocket. "I have to come back!"

"Wait, I'll go with you." Takigawa said, not wanting to let Mai go anywhere alone. It was too dangerous.

"No, you three wait here, it's close enough. Nothing would attack me there." She answered, smiling to them.

She turned around not waiting for their answer only to bump into something solid and hard like rock.

"I thought I told you not to walk alone anywhere?" the rock said in a voice familiar to her.

"Naru?" she looked up surprised only to meet the blue eyes glaring down on her. She gulped. "What are you doing here?" she asked, wanting to get his attention somewhere else than her.

"I was looking for you." He answered, not letting his cold eyes from her. "Matsuzaki-san and John are in hospital, They had an accident with a falling branch."

Mai gasped in horror.

"What?" Takigawa shouted, forgetting for a moment that they were in a library. He momentarily muted the volume of his voice when Naru sent him a glare. "Are they ok?"

"They will be fine after short a stay in hospital in observation." He explained, looking at everyone.

They all had worried looks on their faces. It was different when one of them was seriously hurt, the case was more personal in that way.

"How was your research?" he asked, wanting to take their minds from worry.

"There are some doors in the room which we couldn't open." Gene answered him, thinking back about the case. "Mai is coming there anyways, she can show you it."

Naru look on the girl with question in his eyes. She rubbed her neck slightly ashamed.

"I left something there." She answered honestly.

Naru sighed on it. She really was accident prone. The biggest he had ever met. He looked on Gene and Takigawa.

"Wait here, we will be back shortly."

With that he and Mai turned around and walked away.

"So we have nothing to do but wait here." Gene said, leaning slightly on one of the bookshelf.

In the corner of his eyes he caught Cat's eyes on him. he looked on her.

"Can't resist my charm?" he asked jokingly and she rolled her eyes on him.

"Sorry, I know I will break your heart but you're not my type." She answered.

"You're hurting me." He put his hand on his heart. "And here I thought that no one can resist me."

"I prefer guys whose ego isn't as big as Mount Everest." She deadpanned and Takigawa laughed quietly on that.

"Then why couldn't you take your eyes from me?" Gene asked. Little teasing was the best way to kill boredom.

"I tried to remember from where I know your surname." She answered, furrowing her brows. "And also thinking about the fact why you and Shibuya-san have different names, even if you are twins."

"We had different fathers." Gene joked and she glared on him."Long story, I will tell you about it later." When she was still looking on him he added. "I promise, really."

"Whoa, there are so many books here." Takigawa said suddenly, earning attention of both teens.

He was currently next to one of the bookshelves, reading the titles of books.

"Is he some kind of bookworm?" Cat asked pointing to the monk.

Gene smiled slightly.

"I think that it's the last thing he is." He answered honestly.

Suddenly there was a loud crush coming from direction where Takigawa was. When they looked on him, the blond man was lying on the ground, massaging his head. Cat and Gene quickly went to him.

"What happened?" Gene asked, looking around. He hadn't felt anything.

"I tripped over something." He answered, sitting up and Gene let out a sigh.

Sometimes he really wondered if Mai and Takigawa were family.

Cat looked on the floor where the man tripped and bent down to take away the small carpet which was lying there. A wooden flap on the ground was hidden under it. She looked at both men who exchanged surprised glances.

"Well, that's definitely something new." Gene said, looking around if anyone was watching them.

=G-H=

Naru was watching as his assistant push the stone on the wall and the door opened. Mai went inside and he stood in the door frame, looking around the room. Before he was able to make another step into it, someone pushed him hard and he fell, not being able to restrain his stability on the small step, which led into the room. Mai shrieked surprised when he bumped into her, causing both of them to land on the hard floor, with Naru on top of her. As soon as they hit it, the door closed, and the room fell into darkness.

=G-H=

"Someone has to distract the librarian." Cat said, pointing discretely on the woman sitting behind the desk, who was eyeing them suspiciously.

Takigawa looked at the woman for second and then sighed. It was for the case, after all.

"You two go down there." He said, standing up from the floor. "I will take care of distracting that woman." He added and with his usual smile as he rushed in her direction.

Cat looked after him for a moment than turned her attention on Gene.

"So, are we going?" she asked and Gene nodded, taking grip on the handle of the flap.

"We don't have a choice." He answered and pulled it up.

The space which showed behind the flap was dark and suddenly none of them wanted to go down. But they didn't have a choice.

"Ladies first." Gene said, handing Cat the flashlight, which Takigawa left them.

She glared at him.

"Coward." She said, taking it and slowly putting her feet on first step. She flashed the light.

There were a lot of stairs leading down.

"I would prefer if you call me a gentleman." Gene said, and waited for her to move forward. When she did, he close the flap behind them, causing the light from library to disappear.

"In your dreams." Cat answered, walking further into unknown. There was a strange smell in the air and it was slowly giving her nausea.

"You are hurting me." The boy behind her said, pretending to be sad.

"I wish I could." Cat murmured under her breath.

"You are bad woman." Gene shook his head with small smirk on his face.

"You don't need to compliment me like that."

They were still coming down, careful not to fall. The smell was getting more intense every moment.

"Do you feel it?" Cat asked, not liking the silence which suddenly developed them in the pretty darkness.

"Yeah, It seems like something died here." Gene answered, not liking it at all. He only hoped that it was some animal, maybe a rat or something.

Suddenly, Cat slipped on something wet which was covering one of the steps. Gene tried to catch her to save her from rather painful fall but he wasn't fast enough. But luckily for the girl, there were only four steps left, so her fall didn't last long. She landed oh-so- gracefully on the floor, which was covered with something wet. She also felt that her hand was touching something what was next to her.

'The pipes have to be ruined here.' She thought, opening her eyes.

The light of the flash which fallen together with her allowed her to see perfectly well what she was touching.

The scream stopped in her throat.

She felt two hands gripping her under her arms and hoisting her up, turning her away from the sight.

Gene looked on two bodies lying on the ground. It was really grotesque sight. One of the corps had to have around two weeks, and was emitting the smell which they both had felt. The second one was pretty fresh, since the blood didn't have a chance to solidify. He wandered if it was from today. If it was, it was pretty possible that the killer was still around.

But the wounds of the corps was giving him chills. Whatever had done this, didn't have any mercy in him. The legs and arms were both cut from the bodies, and on the chest of the newer one were deep wounds. That's where falmost all of the blood came from. He wasn't surprised that Cat was terrified. Suspecting from the position where she had fallen, the first thing she had seen, had to be an empty eyes of the boy and the wound on his forehead. Than she had to seen the rest.

He looked down on the girl. She was looking straight into his chest with widened eyes and her breath was unnormally quick. He was only glad that she hadn't fallen uncionscious. He took a grip on her shoulders and shook her slightly.

"Hyuga-san?" when she didn't answered, he raised his voice "Cat!"

This helped. Cat blinked few times and concentrate her eyes on him.

"Are you ok?" he asked. Clearly, she wasn't all right but he had to make her talk to him.

Cat shook her head to get rid of the sight of grey lifeless eyes and to gather her thoughts. She had to take a grip.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice shook slightly, but it was good thing that she was talking. "I was just shocked by this." She added taking a big breath to calm herself.

"Ok. Now we have to find some other exit from here. Taking you out to the library while you are covered in blood would not be the best idea." Gene said, bending to pick up the flash from the floor, carefully not to touch the blood or body next to it.

He flashed the light around the room, purpously avoiding the floor with bodies. He didn't want to add more stress to the girl next to him. even if it looked like she was better, he wouldn't be so sure about it. After all he didn't know her well enough to tell if she was acting or not.

When the light fell on the wall on their left, he let out a sigh of relief. The stairs were going out from there, so they had to lead somewhere where they could go out.


	10. Contrahere lapidem X

_ Hi ^^_

_I'm really sorry for the break in updating, but my university studies didn't allow me to have any free time. But I will try to catch on the late chapters as soon as possible :D_

_Big thanks for everyone who reviewed and also to cryinglullaby for correcting my mistaked :D_

_Please, review when you finish reading :D_

_=G-H=_

When Mai opened her eyes, she was slightly confused. One second she was standing, then suddenly she was on the ground and something was on top her. She blinked and looked straight into a pair of blue eyes, which were watching her from very close proximity.

"N-Naru!" she managed to find her voice in some way. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think?" was the unemotional answer she got.

"I'm lying down."

"But why on me?" Mai continued, feeling that the blush which she had from the beginning of the situation was getting darker and darker every passing second.

She liked their position.

She didn't like the blush.

"Because like any other person I would choose something comfortable instead of hard floor." Naru answered.

'This guy's nerves…' Mai thought, glaring slightly on him.

Without further word, Naru shifted his weight from Mai and stood up on his full high, taking the flashlight from the ground, where he dropped it during the fall. He looked around the room, but except pentagram, nothing caught his attention. He rested his eyes on his assistant, who in the meantime sat up on the ground, looking around.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked, awaiting for her answer. He didn't really want to stay there very long. Never know when the ghost would appear or something and he didn't want to give Mai more stress.

She looked up at him and let out a short embarrassed laugh.

"Well, about that…" she hesitated, stopping herself from finishing.

"What is it, Mai?" he glared slightly on her.

Even through the shadow which the light from the flash wasn't able to chase away, she could feel this eyes on her. Like cold shower in some way.

"." She let out very quickly in one breath.

"Speak like human being." He snapped slightly, already fearing for her answer. He had this strange feeling that it would give him a headache.

"I left it in a different pair of trousers in my bag." Mai repeated, clearly this time, with her head bent down in shame.

"Idiot." Naru muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes slightly on the girl. Not that he didn't expect that. "Do you know how to open this doors?" he asked, walking over to the closed wall.

Mai shook her head. He sighed. He was sure that Lin or Gene would come too look for them in the near future, but didn't know how soon it would be. They all should be in base, so them missing wouldn't go unnoticed. But knowing that crazy twin of his, he would delete the search, claiming that he was doing his brother a favor allowing him to spend some time with Mai.

He looked on the said question from the corner of his eyes. She was still sitting on the ground, her eyes cast on the dusty floor. Not that he was totally against the idea of spending time with Mai… he would be even glad to do it. But only a little.

But if he was going to do it, it surely wouldn't be in some old, dusty room which used not as far as few weeks ago as a place to summon a demon. And without knowledge how to get out from said room.

Looking on unhappy face of Mai, he fought the sudden urge to comfort her, tell that everything was going to be all right. But he couldn't do it. It would be unprofessional.

He did what he was doing the best. He went to examine the pentagram

"Don't worry." He said as he was passing the depressed figure of Mai. "They will find us soon."

He bent down on the ground next to the painting and flashed the light on it. A standard pentagram from a book of black magic. In the middle he saw few drops of blood, which Kaname had used during the spell. Everything was as how Mai described it from her dream.

"I'm sorry, Naru." Mai's voice suddenly pulled him out from his thinking and he turned to the girl.

And panicked slightly.

There were sign of tears in Mai's eyes. Usually when she had sudden break down, Matsuzaki or Takigawa were there for her and comforted her. He wasn't a proper guy to help when girl was crying. His brother got this gene during their conception, not him.

"I should remember that I left it. But when I couldn't find it I panicked and then you came and now I have us both closed here…" she started rumbling, what said to him that she really was stressed over the situation.

If it wasn't like that, she would be on cloud nine. But she thought that Naru was angry at her, because she had them both locked.

Through her rumblings, something appeared behind her. Naru's eyes slightly widened, but seeing that Mai wasn't aware of the presence behind her, to his great surprise, he tried not to show his shock. He deducted that Mai was so wrapped into excusing him for her mistake that she put everything else on second plan, not even concentrating if something triggered in her mind when ghost appeared behind her.

Naru walked closer to her. He didn't want her to see the grotesque looking girl behind her, she had seen too much bad things already. Not knowing how to stop her from turning even when she would notice his stare resting behind her, he did one thing which came into his mind.

Mai stopped talking and gasped in surprise when she was suddenly pulled forward and one arm closed around her waist, while hand was put on her hand, pressing her head slightly into hard chest. She could very clearly feel Naru's aftershave. And she loved the smell.

"N-naru?" she stammered surprised, blinking away her remaining tears.

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be ok." He said, his eyes still resting on the ghost. It was young girl, around sixteen, in long dress. Her neck, just as a part of her face, was covered in blood. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Naru was able to see a deep cut on girl's neck. His grip on Mai tightened slightly. The ghost's lifeless and empty eyes were looking straight into him. Not Mai, but him. He concentrated on her face when he saw that she was trying to say something.

'Protect her.'

Naru's heart stopped for a moment than started working again. Ghost's hand was pointing on Mai and if her eyes had a little bit of life in it, he guessed that there would be expectation in them. He nodded his head lightly, letting the dead girl know that he understood her.

Before disappearing, the ghost pointed some place on the wall. Naru squinted his eyes slightly to see better in the dark room not letting go of Mai. To his surprise, under an amount of dirt, there was something small and shiny.

Mai on her part, didn't really know what to do. One of her biggest dreams ever came true, her boss and at the same time crush, was hugging her to his chest when they were both alone in the dark room. She felt the blush, which adored her face at the moment and hoped in the back of her mind that he wouldn't let go of her. The sudden feel of fear was disappearing very quickly. It was just as if Naru's arm took away all her worries. It was just something she had never experienced before. And she wanted this to last as long as possible.

Bur as quick as it started, it stopped and Naru moved away from her. She felt disappointed that she couldn't see his face in the darkness, but she could bet that it was as unemotional as always. Damn his stoic face.

"Naru, what are you doing?" she asked, when her boss moved behind her and started inspecting the wall there.

Why she wasn't surprised when he didn't answer, instead choosing to ignore her and continue to molest the wall?

Naru squirmed his eyes, trying to see better in the darkness of the room. He was sure that the ghost girl pointed somewhere in the direction of that wall. He ran his hand again over it and when he pulled some dirt from it, he almost grinned triumphantly. A small silver coin was pushed in between two stones on the wall. With little effort he took it off and rested it on his open palm.

"What is it?" Mai asked, looking closer to him to see what interested the teenage boy so much.

"A coin." He answered simply. "And before you ask, I don't know what it's for. At least not yet.'

Mai pouted slightly. How did he know that she had been going to ask this question?

Naru thought for a moment, connecting the puzzle. Who would put coin in the wall in the secret room? He looked ahead of himself, still deep in thought. His eyes fell on the opposite wall, where the secret doors were situated. He furrowed his brows. Maybe it was this… What could be another reason to hide something in that kind of room if it wasn't the key to get out? At least he hoped so.

Without any word to Mai he moved in the direction of the wall and ran his hand over it. He almost begged whatever was watching over them that there was an exit. If there wasn't , he was out of ideas. Finally, after few minutes of searching, he found what he was looking for. Not far away from the door, there was small hole in the wall, just big enough to fit the coin which the ghost had shown him. He smiled to himself.  
"I found the way out." He said to his assistant, who was watching over his shoulder all that time.

He felt a strange warm feeling inside of him when her face beamed with joy.

=G-H=

"It would be pretty funny if we end up in the headmaster office." Cat said when they were slowly walking up the stairs, with Gene in the lead with the flashlight.

"He would certainly be overjoyed to see you in that state." He answered to her, thinking about the reaction of the man when he would see one of his student covered almost completely in blood.

Cat snorted.

"He would decide that I'm after all this shit which is going on here." She said, putting the jacket which Gene had given to her closer around herself. She was slightly cold, whether from the shock or from the cold which was felt in the corridor.

"Why is he so stern when it comes for you?" he said. He wondered about it since the first encounter of the student and teacher, but never had the chance to ask.

"I think that word 'hate' is more suitable here." Cat answered honestly, shrugging her shoulders. "I think that it's because of my father."

"Your father?" Gene glanced at her over his shoulder, trying not fall from the stairs.

"They were together at school. Typical story: both met the girl and fell in love with her but she chose the rich one. That's my father." She reminded herself about the one time when her mother had talked with her without any real reason and had told her the story. "After that both of them haven't talked to each other. And now, when I'm here, he is taking his rage on the person close to his enemy."

Gene rose his brows slightly, looking ahead again.

"I can't said that's fair to you." He stated.

"Well, that and the fact that I set his trousers on the fire once." Cat added afterthought as if it wasn't important.

Gene stopped and turned around, causing her to bump into him.

"You set your headmaster's trousers into fire." He repeated after her looking down on her.

"In the very… sensitive area." She added with an innocent expression.

Gene suddenly felt bad for the man.

"What did the poor guy ever do to you?" he asked. He decided to make a mental note to never get on her bad side. In the future, he wanted to have some kids running around.

Cat shrugged her shoulders.

"He called me 'Kitty' in front of whole school." She answered, her eyes suddenly flashing dangerously. "And I hated it. So don't even think about using it."

"Again, you're bad woman." Gene stated, feeling slightly disappointed that he couldn't see the whole event.

"And again, you don't have to compliment me like that." She answered. "Now, go. I want to change."

Gene shook his head and turned around again, continuing the journey up the stairs again. But he stopped again suddenly, and this time Cat bumped into him again.

"What the…" she looked in front of her and stopped suddenly.

There in front of both teens, something was visible in the faint light given by the flashlight.


	11. Contrahere lapidem XI

_A/N: disclaimer: I don't own anything, expect the OCs._

_Thanks everyone who reviewed last chapter. But i would be really happy if more of you did it. it really give me bigger motivation to write next chapter :D_

_revised: cryinglullaby_

_=G-H=_

When Mai suddenly grabbed his hand in the dark corridor, Naru looked on her slightly confused, thanking his luck that she couldn't see his blush. He had a reputation to keep after all. But when he saw her widened eyes in from the small light radiating from the flashlight, his confusion disappeared and was replaced with worry.

"What is it?" he was indeed a very lucky person to have practiced the unemotional face and voice to perfection. If anything else, he would've been given away.

"N-Naru, something is there." Mai pointed to something behind his back, where the  
stairs lead down, her voice shaking.

He turned around, cursing everything he thought about. It just wasn't his day, was it? Well, being locked with Mai was good thing, but other than that, everything else was going downhill. He looked in the direction where Mai pointed to, bits of light was coming from it, and the figure was visible. But something was strange, it looked as if it was deformed… Naru couldn't really tell properly, because it was pretty far.  
Suddenly, the figure slightly stumbled and the light disappeared. A loud hiss was heard. Naru took his position in front of Mai, ready to use his powers in every moment if it was necessarily.

"You broke the flashlight!" run suddenly in the silence of the passageway. Naru raised his brows in surprise, while Mai blinked few times. They both knew that voice.

"Hyuga-san?" Naru called in the darkness.

There was moment of silence.

"Noll?" male voice asked for confirmation.

Naru felt that Mai behind him sigh in relief, slightly leaning on his back. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had this small thought that he was still holding her hand, but ignored it. He raised his flashlight higher, giving the other two more light, so they were able to climb closer.

"What you are doing here?" he asked his brother, when Gene and Cat stood few steps lower that he and Mai.

"Takigawa literally come across another room. So we decided to check it out." Gene answered, smirking slightly when he saw that his brother was holding Mai's hand. Finally.

"Found something?" Mai jumped into conversation.

She hoped that they had something that would help the case. She wanted to get out of the school as soon as possible. The case seemed more serious than any they had had before. And the fact that this something… demon… wanted her wasn't helping.

"Yes." Cat answered and Mai felt her hopes raised. "We found more bodies."

"The missing boys are not longer missing." Gene stated somehow grimly, remembering the sight from the room.

Mai's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand. Somewhere in her heart she still hoped that some of the missing people were alive, but it looked like nothing could go right in the case.

"As lovely as this chat is, we should move from here." Naru said suddenly.

"Can we come back the way you got here?" he asked both teens in front of him.

Seeing as they were able to get in, there was also a way out.

'I don't think that's good idea.' Gene said suddenly in his head, earning his brother's attention.

'That's the only known way by any of us.' He answered calmly.

'Yes, but the sight there really isn't something what Mai should see.' Gene knew that Mai would get very frightened by the sight. It was enough that she was experiencing things in her dreams. No need to make it happen in real life too. And knowing Naru's feelings for the girl, he wouldn't want to put her in danger. 'And also, that way out leads to the library. And Hyuga-san is not in  
state to show herself in public.'

Naru furrowed his brows at the last sentence. Last time when he had seen the girl in library everything was normal. He pointed the flashlight at her and his eyes widened slightly. Mai gasped behind him.

Just now he noticed that his brother was without his jacket, instead Cat was covered with it. But one side of her face was covered with blood and her white shirt was currently red from it. Not a nice sight.

"Oh God, are you all right?" Mai asked concerned, she may have not known the girl for long, but she had this strange pulling towards her, and she liked her.

"Nah, I'm fine." Cat answered, smiling to her reassuringly. "just a pleasant meeting with the blood covered floor."

'The room looks that bad?' Naru asked Gene after the note about floor.

'It looks as if someone was playing with chain-saw.'

Naru quickly considered their options. Going down and risk to put Mai in shock from the sight, in addition giving more stress to the second girl also, or coming up and hoping that they would go into decent place where no one was around.

"We're going up." He said suddenly, interrupting another of Mai's question about Cat's state.

"Huh?" his assistant looked on him surprised. "But can we go out the way…"

"No." Naru answered, not letting her finish and turning around. "And before you ask why, the answer is: because I say so."

"Jerk! Stop answering my unasked questions!" Mai felt like hitting him, but restrain herself to only yelling. It wouldn't be good to hit her own boss, after all.

"Not my fault that you're so predictable."

Mai fumed under her breath and Cat padded her reassuringly on the back.

'You know that you are still holding Mai's hand, don't you?'

Naru once again thanked darkness while letting go of Mai's hand. Mai also blushed. She forgot that she was still having her hand in Naru's one. But why she was holding it all the time until now? It was as if he forgot about it and remembered just now… or someone reminded him. She turned around and glared at Gene who smirked at her in answer.

=G-H=

Few hours later, Mai found herself in their base, waiting for Naru to come back from the library. The headmaster had called the cops to take the bodies and they wanted to start an investigation. Naru hadn't been happy at all about it, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

"I hope that Ayako and John are fine." She sighed, resting her head on the  
desk.

They were still waiting for a call from Lin, who was currently in the hospital with miko and priest. He would call them if something changed. Suddenly, a big hand ruffled her hair and she looked up straight into brown eyes of monk.

"Don't worry, they are both strong." Even if he said that, Mai still could see the worry in his eyes. "Do you really think that Ayako would be seriously injured by it? I'm surprised that she didn't get up immediately and screamed on the bench for ruining her nails."

Mai grinned at that. Knowing miko, her temper and stubbornness would really get her out of it. Suddenly the door opened and freshly showered Cat went into the room. They were lucky enough that the secret corridor lead them to the empty bathroom, from where they moved to the base without anyone seeing them.

"Are they still downstairs?" she asked, sitting on one of the empty chairs. As the one who was present during the discover of the bodies, she was asked to stay with them.

"Nope." Mai answered unhappily, sighing. She was tired of waiting. "It's taking so long…"

"They are going to check everything in the room to find any evidence." Takigawa explained. "And then they are going to ask a lot of questions."

That was what Mai feared the most. Talk with cops about hunting a demon.

"Everything okay?" Takigawa asked Cat, turning to her. "The sight you presented after coming back wasn't very pleasant."

"I'm fine." She answered, moving her hair off her face. "At least, I'm not the one lying down there."

"That's the optimistic point of view." Gene said, walking into the base with Naru and an older man around forty.

"Even though, it seems too optimistic for the person who just discovered a group of dead bodies." The unknown man said, looking at Cat with his small eyes.

Naru looked sharply at the man. He hated when someone was taking wrong impressions. Mai suspected that both men weren't in good terms with each other. And she didn't feel friendly towards the man as well.

"Etiquette requires you to introduce yourself before insulting someone." Cat answered the man.

Mai almost smiled when the man's eyes narrowed slightly on the remark.  
"I'm Yamamoto Ryo." The man said, addressing everyone. "I'm the lead detective in this case."

The air of authority was emitting from him. Mai had this impression that he was the kind of person who loved to order others around.

"From now on I hope that you will to cooperate with my team. If not, there may be several consequences." He said, his tone changing a tone at the last sentence.

If looks could kill, Naru's glare would've burned him alive and dispose the ashes in the trash.

"I already assured you, detective, that my team is going to cooperate with you." He said coldly and Mai shivered. Never before Naru used that kind of tone.

"I know. I just want the message to get threw everyone's minds." The detective said, taking a place on the chair which was usually occupied by Naru.

The glare intensified.

Mai suddenly thought of two lions, fighting for the head position.

"Now, to start I would like to talk with people who found the bodies." Yamamoto started, taking out his notepad. "Cat Hyuga and Eugene Davis. The rest are asked to leave the room."

"Seeing as Hyuga-san is under age she can't be questioned without a guardian."

Mai exchanged looks with Takigawa. Go Naru. Yamamoto looked at the younger man.

"Then send one of your people for the headmaster." He said impatiently.

"The headmaster won't be needed here." Naru said and detective narrowed his eyes at him.

"Why is that?" he growled on Naru.

"Seeing as I'm her employer currently, I will be the one present at the questioning."

Mai saw that Yamamoto looked ready to snap at Naru at every moment. The narcissist had to give him hard time when they were down in the library.

"Fine. But sit down and be quiet." The answer came very hard.

Naru:1 detective:0.

"Takigawa, take Mai to her room." He ordered, looking at the blond man. The monk nodded his head and together with Mai, they went out.

=G-H=

"So you slipped and fell down." The detective repeated when Gene and Cat told him everything. Third time.

"Yes."

"I don't see any blood on you now." He stated, looking closely on the girl.

Cat raised her brow.

"You arrived after an hour. Then spent almost two hours in that room. You really didn't expect me to sit covered in blood all that time?" she answered coldly.

_'Do you have this feeling that he is trying to blame us?'_ Gene asked his brother, looking on him from the corner of his eyes.

_'From the very beginning. Watch what you are saying to him.'_

"And I'm sure that you burnt the clothes." He said with small smirk, writing something in his notes.

"No, they are in the trash. You can go and check trash if you want to. Maybe you will find something interesting for you." The secret meaning was clearly heard in her answer.

_'That was harsh.'_

_'We are sitting here over an hour. We are all irritated._'

Detective glared at her.

"And no one was in the room or around it?" he asked, noting something again.

"No, the room was clear." Gene answered on this one.

"Strange." Yamamoto leaned on his chair, looking on the teens in front of him.

"The body was in state that suggested that he was killed shortly before you found him. How the killer was able to run away without bumping on you? Also, Shibuya-san said that he and Taniyama-san hadn't heard anyone walking through the wall, what should be possible for them to do if someone was running there."

Cat gave exaggerated sighed at this one, Gene raised his brows slightly and Naru looked sharply at the detective. He had told the detective that he hadn't been paying attention to any kind of noises at that time but it looked like the older man decided to ignore it.

"Are you suggesting something?" he asked, interrupting the questioning.

"I heard that you weren't in good relationship with Imaki boy." The detective asked Cat, who shrugged her shoulders.

"We didn't speak with each other daily, but I didn't have anything against him, neither did he." She answered, deciding to leave out the fact that she had interrupted the boy from being completely taken over by the demon.

"Interesting. The headmaster told me something different." Before she had a chance to answer, he turned to Gene. "And you are working as a ghost buster, aren't you?"

Every person present in the room could clearly hear a mockery in his voice. Well, not everybody believed in ghosts. And Naru was prepared for that since he had met with the detective for the first time, in front of the library. When Yamamoto had heard what both twins' work was, his whole demeanor change drastically. Before that he had been at least a little polite, but then it disappeared and they were his first suspects on the list. And when he heard that it was one of them and student of the school, temporarily cooperating with SPR, he made his own version of what happened. Yet to present it to the rest. But Naru had slight idea of what it would be.

"I think that investigator of unnatural occurrences would be more fitting." Gene answered, looking as if he didn't caught the mockery of the detective.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night. But back to the case, did you met any of the ghost before?" Yamamoto asked, leaning over the table.

"Many of them. Not every of them were friendly, I have to say." The boy answered, smiling slightly.

"Oh really." The detective raised his brow.

"Yes. For some time I also played a ghost role, when I was in coma. But I was a nice guy. " He added as if it wasn't anything strange in it.

"You played a role of ghost?" Yamamoto repeated after him incredulously.

Gene nodded his head.

"And I was also haunting my brother's girlfriend while she was sleeping."

Naru glared at him for that one but he decided to let it go.

_'Stupid, don't mock him._' he warned Gene. The look on detective face wasn't something he liked.

_'What? Mom always said that we shouldn't lay to law representative."_ Gene replied innocently.

_'I'm_ _not going to visit you if he put you in the mental hospital.'_

_'I know, you will be in the room next to me at the time.'_

"Do you think that I'm stupid, boy?" the detective asked suddenly, leaning over the table closer to Gene, looking him in the eyes.

"Should I be honest or polite?" he answered before he could stop himself.

He earned glare from Naru again and quiet snort from Cat. Yamamoto looked on him only.

"You know what I think happened here?" the detective suddenly straightened his back, and walk around the room. "I heard about people like you." He added without waiting for their answer. "Trying to get as much clients and money as you can. Not stopping from anything to do so." He continued, looking on all of them.

_'I think I know where it's going.'_ Gene said to Naru, looking at his brother.

_'Me too.'_

_'But if he is suspecting us, why he didn't questioned Mai or Bou-san? They__ worked for us longer.' _Gene asked. He knew that Yamamoto took Cat because she found the body with him, but it didn't make sense to suspect her together with them.

_'No idea, but I think that it was because none of them were at that room and__ also, headmaster played some role in it. You hears what he said to Yamamoto.' _

Gene nodded his head and turned his attention to the older man again.

"I think that you three, together with the rest of your people, are behind all of this." Yamamoto continued, sitting at the corner of the table next to Cat. He leaned over her, looking in her face completely. The girl backed slightly away, not really wanting to be in close proximity to the man. "I think that you have been working for them for longer time than recently. Bored rich kid in school full of ones like you. You contacted you friends and you came out with the story of curse. The pretty face like yours can fill boys full of hormones. Then, when the rest of your team arrived on the scene you needed something more to make it seem serious. So you killed the boys, hoping that it will all be pushed on the 'ghost' in this school. What do you think about it?" he asked with triumphant smile, as if he was so sure that they were going to admit their faults.

"I think that you should write criminal novels. You have plenty of imagination." The girl answered, watching him incredulously.

"What you have on your defense?" he asked, still with the winner grin. Cat put her hand in the air with one finger straight.

"First, I have not met any of the SPR members in my life before. You can check my phone, e-mail or whatever you want. I didn't contact them since I didn't even know they existed." She straightened second finger. "Second, if you talked with other people, you would know that I spent most of my time in the infirmary when the students were kidnapped. Third, I wouldn't be able to kill or even kidnap boys twice my height."

Yamamoto looked at her for a moment in silence. There were seriously many laps in his theory, but he hoped that one of the teens would broke down when he presented it. In fear of parents or whatever. Well, this theory was mostly things which headmaster of the school put in his head, but it looked so appealing to him at the moment. Especially after he heard about the ghost business. He was rather rational guy, so the stories of ghost or demons were always stupid mumble for him.

"Detective." Naru said suddenly, earning the attention of older man. "Do you have any real proof against us?" he asked, looking coldly on the man.

And that was other thing. Yamamoto had only word of headmaster that Hyuga was connected with it, so in the logic way of thinking, SPR was also. But maybe he should really checked everything before suspecting everyone… but he really hated to admit that he wasn't right.

"not yet. But at the moment I will find anything, you are all busted. I can promise you that."  
Gene and Naru exchanged glances.

"I can't wait to hear your proof then," Naru answered, standing up. "now, if you are done, we will leave."

Yamamoto looked like he wanted to stop them, but at least he let them go.

=G-H=

"That detective is so frustrating!" Mai exclaimed when she went into her temporary room, where Cat was already sitting on the bed, reading something.

"Tell me something I don't know." She said, putting her book down. She moved into the room while Takigawa and Mai had been questioned. "Did he tell you his little idea?"

"Yeah. I thought that Bou-san would punch him somewhere in the middle of it, especially when he suggested that Naru was playing with our minds. As if we were some idiots who didn't think." Mai lied down on her bad, giving an angry sigh.

She really, really hated when someone was badmouthing Naru. Or anyone from her little family. And the old guy had the guts to suggest that they even hurt Ayako and John intentionally! What nerve! If she had Cat's power, she would seriously burn this man.

"Did you have any problem with police before in your cases?" Cat asked suddenly, looking on her curiously.

Mai thought for a moment, putting her finger to the chin.

"Actually no, it's the first time. At least for me, I don't know about Naru. He has more experience after all." She answered honestly. "Why?"

"I was just curious." The girl answered. "It has to be interesting, I mean your work."

"Yeah, sometimes it is…"

With that, Mai started to talk about her work with Cat. She hadn't talked much about it in school to her friends, since they couldn't really understand the fear and seriousness she felt sometimes while being on the case. But with Cat, Mai felt as if she could tell her everything. Both girls, taken completely by conversation, didn't notice two red eyes watching them from behind window and the figure silently sitting on outside of their room.


	12. Contrahere lapidem XII

_ A/N: Thanks again for reviews. I still hope that more of you will leave a word about what you think of this story. It really helps me :D_

_And I don't own Ghost Hunt, I wouldn't kill Gene if i did ^^_

=G-H=

The sleeping girls looked so peaceful. Innocent and unworried, as if they were sure that nothing could happened to them during their sleep. Too bad they were so wrong.

The red eyes watched both of his victims with sparkle in his eyes. He was so excited. Soon, he would take them. Finally. The strongest of his victims were soon going to be his. And no one would stop him. This brats who had been around them all the time were now away, sure that the girls were save. His eyes widened in joy. The spares would be killed soon too. Their punishment was close enough. And he was going to make it as painfull as possible.

But now, to the more important things.. It would be the first time when he was going to kidnap two victims at once, and boy, was he excited about that. But even if it was dangerous, he couldn't stop himself from doing that, he couldn't wait any longer. At the moment when the brown eyed girl had arrived to the school, he had felt her power, emitting from her body, pure aphrodisiac for his senses. He had been so close to take her before, but always someone interrupted him. His eyes flashed dangerously for a moment when he glanced on the girl sleeping in the second bed. If she wasn't so powerful, and in the same way important to finish his job, he would kill her in the instant. She had been giving him too much trouble.

And he knew that he had to be quick about finishing it. The fact that more people had arrived on the crime scene was disturbing. He had never thought that someone could find the bodies in one of his secret rooms. No one knew about it!

But now, he had to calm down. If he did anything in rush, he would make mistake.

=G-H=

Mai stirred in her sleep, slowly coming to consciousness. Something was alarming her, something wasn't right. She didn't know why, but there was this urgent feeling in her mind that she had to wake up before it would be too late. She moved slightly and opened her eyes, looking ahead of her.

Her eyes widened in horror and fear when she saw two red orbs starring straight at her and mouth opened in terrifying smile, promising so much pain the future. She had seen smile like that only once, during their case in Prime Minister house. And she was prying since then that she would never experience anything like that again.

Before she could tell anything, the person suddenly lunged at her with terryfing speed, closing his cold hand over her mouth, stopping the scream in her throat. Mai tried to free herself, but her opponent was so strong. Definitely too strong for small teenage girl.

When he started pulling her from her bed, she knew that if she didn't do something quickly, her life would be in great danger. After all, she knew what had happened to the other girls. And she didn't want to be one of them. She hadn't confessed her feelings to Naru yet.

She looked on Cat, but the girl was still asleep, not aware of what was going around her. Mai jerked herself once again with all her strenght and in last attempt to save her life she kicked her opponent in the it from pain or surprise, her opponent let go of her mouth.

It was the chance she needed. As soon as she could take breath, she screamed.

Cat shoot up in her bad, startled by the sudden noise which had woken her up. She looked on her right and frozen for a moment in fear.

When she met the eyes of Mai's opponent, the red orbs which she had already seen before, she knew that there was no moment to lose. She tried to cast her spell, but it wasn't that simple. The strong wave of air hit her before she could do anything, pushing her out of the bad and slamming her against the opposite wall. She groaned in pain and sling down on the floor.

Mai looked in fear as Cat fell on the floor. When the man with red eyes turned his attention on her again, she struggled harder against him. Something flashed in his eyes and Mai suddenly couldn't find herself to breath. She tried to suck some air in her lung, but she couldn't. It was as if something was blocking the air from her.

Then, the coldness came. It was as if something sucked all warm from the room and even herself and the attention of the man was turned away from her again. And she could breathe at least.

She collapsed on her bad, coughing violently when the air filled her lungs again. The man with red eyes were suddenly pushed away from her, when Cat lunged on him. Mai felt wave of hotness emitting from the girl when she passed her. It was as if something gave the second girl more power, since she was able to push the attacket on her own and even cause him to stumble over his feet.

The fury flashed in his eyes.

"Mai!"

Suddenly, the doors flew open, Lin, Naru, Takigawa and Gene rushed inside.

Loud whistle run around the room and white strings of Lin's shiki flew in the direction of the opponent, passing Cat, who had strange red aura around her. The shikis circled around the monster, stopping him from doing anything. Monk started his chant, but it looked like it had no effect on their opponent. Naru moved to come to Mai's side, to protect her if something went wrong.

But the creature wouldn't allow it. No, it was the time to finish his job. He roared with anger and everyone present in the room flinched at the sound. It was inhuman and terrifying, Mai had never heard anything like that.

To great surprise of everyone, Lin's shikis were pushed away from the creature. The wave of air passes everyone, but luckily not strong enough to make something to them. But now, when the monster was free, he moved quickly to Mai, his eyes even more red than before.

He was suddenly stopped when Naru stood between him and Mai, his hand glowing blue with his power. Protecting Mai, he would do anything, even putting his own life on the line.

"Naru, stop!" the girl scream behind him, seeing what he was going to do. She knew how dangerous for his life it was.

"You think that you can stop me?" the creature said for the first time, looking on Naru with something similar to mockery. In comparison to his previous roar, the voice was normal. Cat couldn't recognize where she had heard it before.

Naru didn't like the mockery.

"You think I can't?" he answered with question, the power still building in him.

"I know you can't."

The air around Naru thickened visibly making it hard to breath and concentrating his powers. He narrowed his eyes. There was no way in hell that he would allow this monster to take Mai from him.

"Exitium calida!"

Red wave of hot air pushed the creature away from Naru and Mai, slamming him on the wall.

That was enough for the creature. Now it was really furious. Before anyone could move, all of them were slammed against the walls, not able to move.

"Pathetic humans. There is no way that any of you would win against me."

Mai looked with horror when he moved to her, grabbing her by her arm. She tried to fight, but no use. She felt something on her neck and the next second she was unconscious.

Naru moved against the strange power which was holding him in one place.

"Don't even think about it. It's no use." The creature said to him, holding Mai close to him. "But don't worry, you will join her soon enough." He smirked, running his finger over Mai's cheek.

Naru looked furious. Utterly furious.

With last smirk in his direction, the man with red eyes moved to Cat. The girl narrowed her eyes on him. When he tried to touch her, he suddenly pulled his hand away, hissing in pain and anger. He narrowed his eyes and more air run in Cat's direction, causing the girl to slam her head in the wall, losing the consciousness.

"I will be back." With that last words, the creature jumped from the window, taking Mai with him.

When he disappeared, the power which were holding all of them was gone also. They fall on the ground. As soon as Naru's feet touched the floor, he jumped to the window, looking around in any sign of the creature and Mai. But, as suspected, nothing was visible in the darkness.

Lin came closer to him, putting his hand on younger man's shoulder.

"We will find her." He said only and Naru nodded his head.

He knew that they had to find Mai before it was too late. If something happened to her because he wasn't able to help her… he didn't want to think about that. His hand formed a fist. He was going to kill that monster for taking his Mai away. He took big breath to calm himself and turned around.

Gene and Takigawa were kneeling next to Cat, who was lying on the floor, unconscious.

"How is she?" he asked, looking one last time through the window.

"We think that she is only unconscious." Takigawa answered, his voice slightly troubled.

"You think?" Naru raised his brows. He knew that both his brother and monk knew first aid.

"Well, the problem is that we can't touch her." Gene answered, running his hand through his hair.

Naru raised his brows.

"You've never had problems with touching women before." He said. No matter the situation, Naru was Naru.

Gene cleared his throat on that.

"She is too hot to touch her." Takigawa answered.

Naru couldn't stop himself.

"I didn't know that you like so younger girls, Takigawa." He said, looking on the monk.

Lin moved to both men, who were currently glaring at their boss. He tried to touch young girl's head, but as soon as his hand touch it, he took it away.

"It has to be connected with her powers." He said, looking on Naru.

"So what, we had to wait until she get cold?" Takigawa asked, rubbing his neck.

"It sounds so strange." Gene said on that, shaking his head.

He looked on his brother. He knew that Naru took it badly that Mai was taken. He too was worried about the girl which he started to treat like younger sister.

_'You okay?' _he asked Naru in his head.

His brother looked on him.

_'Why shouldn't I be?'_

_'You know, with Mai's kidnap and all. What we are going to do now?' _

_'We are going to find her.'_

The look in Naru's blue eyes told Gene that the younger twin was not going to stop until he did it.

=G-H=

They didn't have to wait long for Cat to woke up. She started to stir when they were in the middle of thinking what to say to the detective. She sat slowly, holding her hand to her head and groaning slightly in pain. Four men in the room looked on her.

"How are you feeling?" Gene asked, standing up and walking clser to her.

"I think… that I'm fine." She answered, feeling her head for any injures. Luckily, there were no wound from the hit.

"Sorry we didn't move you to the bad but we couldn't touch you." Takigawa said, smiling sheepishly.

Cat looked on him for a moment not understanding what he was talking about for a moment. Then, it clicked.

"Ach, don't worry about that." She shrugged her shoulders, still a little dizzy. "I always have slightly high temperature after using this attack."

"Slightly high?" Takigawa exclaimed. "You were so freaking hot than no one could touch you without getting burned."

Cat only smiled slightly.

"That's normal for me." She get serious and looked on Naru, who was sitting without moving. "Mai?" she only asked.

Everyone looked on the floor with grim faces.

"He took her." Naru answered finally.

Cat winced slightly, thinking how scared Mai had to be at the moment.

"We don't know how much time we have until he…" Gene didn't finish but everyone knew what he wanted to say.

Naru's fist tightened.

"We know." Cat suddenly said. "Mai remembered about it before we went to sleep. She was going to tell you this tomorrow, but…"

They looked on her surprised and Naru sighed. It was just like Mai to forget about something.

"He first will want to kidnap you and kill you in front of her. To show her that she was only his or something." Cat continued, looking on Naru. "So, until he get you, he won't kill Mai."

"Naru, Gene, none of you is allowed to move alone." Lin said suddenly, taking over the role of boss from Naru, earning this same the glare from him.

"Why me?" Gene looked surprised on Chinese man.

"Because we don't want to give him a slight chance to mistake you two." He answered simply.

Naru nodded his head. If it meant that Mai had a chance to stay alive, he would deal with it somehow. But he wondered… none of them was strong enough to stop the monster. Lin's shiki were defeated simply, he would take too much time to connect his PK power, even Cat, who had most useful power against the monster, wasn't able to stop him. Was there really a chance to stop him? What if they failed in protecting each other and more of them will get kidnapped or even dead?

_'Don't think about it too much.' _When his brother's voice run in his head, he looked up on him.

_'You know that there is high possibility…'_

Gene rolled his eyes.

_'Mai would break your favorite cup on your head for thinking like that.'_

Naru almost smiled on the image. Mai, the always optimistic one, would do something like that.

The knock to the door startled everyone. They looked up and Cat finally stood up with the help of Gene to open it. She wasn't very surprised who she saw there.

"Detective, how nice to see you." She said, her voice sweet.

"Hyuga-san." He only said. "I heard some noises coming from you room."

Naru and Gene exchanged glances.

"Well, took you long to come here, detective." Cat answered, raising her brows. She knew that it had to be around half an hour from the fight.

Yamamoto glared on her lightly.

"What happened?"

Cat turned around to look on the rest in question what to say. Naru stood up and she moved, allowing him to take her place. He would deal with the man better than her, especially that all she wanted was to sit down now.

Naru wandered quickly what to say to detective. Of course, Mai's disappearing had to be noticed, so there was no sense in hiding it. But he knew that saying the truth was not the option. Yamamoto was not going to believe them, even worse, it would make him believe more in his previous idea about their fault. That would slow them down and they needed to find Mai quickly.

He was glad that he knew how to lie perfectly. That came very in hand at the situation they were in.

=G-H=

The five of them were sitting in the base, anxious and impatient. All of them wanted to find Mai quickly, but for now they couldn't do much. Naru was even more sarcastic and ironical than always, Takigawa and Gene sat quietly, so not like them. Cat was said to watch the monitors, in false hope to find anything from the time when Mai had been kidnapped.

But in reality, none of them knew what to do next. Even Naru. They didn't know where the monster could take Mai. And without that, there wasn't much they could do to help her.

Cat sighed impatiently and stood up from her place. Three pair of eyes turned in her direction.

"Where are you going?" Naru asked, the plan of the building in front of him.

"Toilet." She answered moving in the direction of the door.

"You can't go alone." He stated but Cat only looked on him with raised brow.

"The toilet is on the end of corridor. I will be fine." With that, she walked out, not even waiting for an answer.

Cat washed her hands, sighing deeply. Events in the school were getting worse and worse. She didn't even know if they would get from there alive. She hoped that Mai was still alive at least. Something in the girl, maybe her friendly and warm attitude, caused that she was easily to like.

She walked out of the bathroom and almost had a heart attack when she suddenly came face to face with blond haired monk and black haired teen.

"For goodness sake, are you trying to kill me?" she asked, putting a hand over her rapidly biting heart.

"Actually ,we were sent here to prevent this." Takigawa smile widely.

It strangely looked like he was glad to have that effect.

Cat was going to answer something when something in the corner of her eyes caught her attention. She looked on her right and grabbed both of the men in front of her, pushing them behind the corner.

"What are you…"

Gene started, but Cat put her finger to her lips so he stopped talking. He looked on Takigawa and both of them looked in the direction where Cat was looking.

The headmaster was standing next to one of the wall, looking around the corridor if someone was there. When he didn't spotted anyone, he pushed the wall and to surprise all of them it moved, allowing the men to went inside. Cat, Gene and Takigawa looked on each other. Suddenly, the girl went from their hidden place and started to walk in the direction of the wall, only to be stopped by the hand which grabbed her collar.

"And where do you think you are going?" she looked on Gene, who was holding her collar.

"After him?" she answered with question.

He raised his brow in similar way to his brother.

"Alone?"

Cat decided that answering positively wouldn't be good idea.

"No, with you."

Gene thought about it for a moment, before answering.

"That's better idea."

But this answer earned both of them a fist on the head from the monk. They looked on him, nursing the bumps on their heads.

"Are you two out of your minds?" Takigawa looked on both of them as concerned parent. "You two are targeted by this demon thing and you want to go straight into his cave?"

"Well, actually we don't know if it's the cave…" Gene answered.

"That's not the case! You are not going to move anywhere on your own, you hear me?" he looked on both of them and they nodded.

"We will wait here while you fetch Naru and Lin." Gene said. "None of us can be on their own and it will be quicker to run their alone." He explained.

Monk thought about it for a moment before finally nodding his head.

"but you two stay here!" he said with one last look before heading in the direction of their base.

There was a moment of silence between both teens.

"He actually bought it." Cat said suddenly amused.

"Yeah, I'm surprised too." Gene answered, looking in the direction where monk had run.

They exchanges looks.

"So, are we going?" Gene asked and Cat nodded her head.

Maybe they were at least one step closer to find Mai.


	13. Contrahere lapidem XIII

Naru was looking on the monk with something close to amusement in his eyes.

"And you actually believed them?" he asked, interrupting Takigawa in the middle of his sentence.

The monk blinked on him.

"Huh?" he asked intelligently.

Naru sighed tiredly.

"Takigawa-san, as long as I know my twin, I know that there is no way in hell that he is going to wait on anything when he once set his mind on something." He explained, running his hand through his hairs. Unfortunately for him, Cat didn't seem much different from Gene at that aspect. He was sure that both of the teens were already far away from the place were monk had left them.

Takigawa thought about it for a moment. And then sighed with resignation.

"I can't believe that I fall for that." He said, slumping on the chair next to him.

Naru glared on him slightly.

"I second that."

He thought about it for a moment. There was great possibility that the passage in the wall could lead to where Mai was hidden. And the fact that Mabara sneaked there, not wanting anyone to know about it was slightly alarming. As far as they know, he hadn't been the one who attacked them in girls' room. But there always was possibility that he cooperated with the demon. If that was true, Cat and Gene made a great show of idiocy, going there alone. The only thing which slightly made him feel better was the fact that Hyuga could at least prevent the attack for some time until they arrived. But if it was true, they should hurry. Naru looked on Lin, who only nodded, already knowing what to do.

"Come on." He said to monk, who was still sitting on the chair. "We are going after them."

Takigawa nodded his head, standing up, ready for action.

"When I get this two kids in my hands I'm going to make them regret it." He promised when they were going out from the base.

=G-H=

Mai was slowly coming over to her consciousness. She didn't want to open her eyes, her head hurt too much. She just wanted to come back to sleep, no matter that she was uncomfortable.

But wait a moment… her bad was always comfortable…

Then, she remembered. The attack, fight, blackness. Sudenly, the fear gripped her heart. She didn't know what had happened to everyone… Naru, Bou-san, Gene, Lin, Cat… they all had been in the room with her. And if she was now here, wherever she was, that meant that they had lost.

She heard someone walking around the place where she was, humming something silently. She didn't recognize the tune, but she got a chills from it. Whoever got her, seemed happy.

Then, she heard second pair of footsteps, walking closer.

"You got them?" she heard the voice asking.

She almost opened her eyes. What Mabara was doing there?

The humming stopped.

"I've got one of them, sensei." The second voice of person who kidnapped her answered.

"I told you to bring both!" the anger in Mabara's voice almost made Mai's wince.

"B-but the other one put up a fight! And then the rest of them came…"

"I didn't lend you the power for nothing! You should know how to use it!"

"B-but sensei, I couldn't…"

"Quiet!"

There was a moment of silence, as if both moment were listening something. Then, Mabara laughed evilly.

"It looks like they are coming to free our newest pray." He said. "Come get them. And remember: keep them alive. I want our little girl here and the second one to watch how I'm dealing with their friends."

Mai fought with the fear with all her might. It was clear now that Mabara was one of the culprit. And he wanted to kill all of them. Mai felt one tear slept from beneath her closed eyelids. If only she could somehow warned them…

_'Plese… look out, he is coming for you.'_

=G-H=

"Who the hell ever came with the idea of building freaking maze behind the wall?"

Gene smirked, looking on the girl who tried to take off spider web from her hair with one hand, since in second she was holding small flashlight.

"Whoever did it had pretty good imagination." He answered, walking after her.

Both of them never expected anything like it. It started like simple corridor, straight and gloomy, but then suddenly, after walking some stairs down, it turned into some crazy maze. And they didn't have idea how to get out from there.

"He could left a map or something." Cat muttered, leaving her hairs alone.

The stopped at the dead end. Again.

"How big can it be?" she asked, leaning on the wall and looking around.

"Well, seeing as we came down, we should be somewhere around basement now." Gene said, thinking it over. "So, in reality, it can be huge."

Cat looked on him.

"You are so helpful when it come to raise someone's spirit." She said ironically.

"Only for you." He answered with small smile.

Cat shook her head.

"You don't happen to have any thread with you, do you?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course I have, together with picnic basket." He answered, rolling his eyes.

Cat pushed herself from the wall.

"Great, we will have something to eat if we won't find an exit." She replied. "but seriously, let's move, maybe we will get out from here and find Mai."

Gene moved after her.

"I have a question." He said when they turned into another passage.

"What is it?" Cat asked, trying to remember every turn they made.

"Earlier, in the infirmary, Kurona-san said that you usually passes out after using your powers." He said and Cat looked over her shoulder on him.

"And what with that?"

"When you protected Mai the other night you didn't pass out. You even came to us with her." He stated, remembering the outcome. "How?"

Cat turned to look in front of her again.

"I'm passing out after I use energy from my body. You know, the warmth and things like that. After channeling it into attack, I just don't have strength to do anything else." She started explaining while they were moving forward. "But usually, other people like me, are using energy from around them. But, if it's used around people, it can be dangerous to them. I mean, if I suck their energy, they will be cold. But when someone who can control air take it, they would stop breathing."

Gene raised his brows slightly.

"So it means, that if you don't want to pass out during your attack you have to make a mini-Siberia around yourself?" he asked.

Cat laughed quietly and Gene smirked at the sound.

"You can say that."

"How did you get that power?" he asked again.

Cat actually turned fully to him with raised brows.

"Are you interviewing me or something?" she asked, looking on him.

"Nah, I'm just curious person." Gene shrugged his shoulders.

"You know that curiosity killed the cat?"

"But you are alive."

Cat blinked on him surprised before she caught what he meant.

"Very funny." She glared on him. "Could you stop making fun of my name?"

"No, it's too much fun." He smiled down on her and was tempted to ruffle her head, but thought better of it. After all, she could burn something important to him.

"You have death wish." She said and turned around to move again.

He started walking after her, but stopped suddenly when someone speak in his mind.

_'Please… look out, he is coming for you.'_

He was used to telepathy, after all this years of talking with his brother. But why… had he just heard Mai?

"What happened?"

He looked up on Cat, who stopped and turned to him with furrowed brows. For a moment he was silent, as if wandering over something.

Then he suddenly moved to her and switched off the light in her hand, causing the darkness to fall on them.

"What are you…" before she could finish the question, hand fell on her mouth.

When she felt someone leaning over her, she started struggling.

"Stop, someone is coming." Gene whispered in her ear as quiet as he could for her to hear him.

She stopped and started to listen. Somewhere in the dark maze, she actually could hear footsteps and silent humming. Not in close proximity, but it could always change. If it was the demon, he would know the way through the maze, they didn't.

Cat looked up on him. Thanks to their closeness, he could see her green eyes and question written in them.

'What now?'

Well, that was good question. Too bad he didn't know the answer. He thought for a moment. He knew that if the demon found them, they were boasted. Even if Cat could fight with him, the space was pretty small to do so. And if she passed on him suddenly, they both would be screwed.

Suddenly, there were steps heard from other direction. Cat and Gene exchanges glances. The humming also grew closer.

"Gene?"

Both of teens turned abruptly to three men standing there with flashlight with their fingers on their lips but it was too late.

Cat screamed when the wall behind them erupted, and together with Gene they were pushed into the other members of SPR.

Naru grunted when he suddenly found himself on the ground after being hit by smaller body. He looked down on Cat, who looked on him apologetically, shrugging her shoulders. She didn't choose where to land after all.

"Well, well, it looks like all party is here."

They all looked up, Cat kneeling now between both twins and Lin with Takigawa behind them. It was the same man who had attacked them before. He was looking down on them, smirk visible on his face. He was standing relaxed over them.

"And you came alone into my nest."

He laughed, throwing back his head. Now when he did that, something shimmered on the necklace he was wearing. Cat's eyes widened. The stone! That was the way to defeat him. She thought for a moment. Alone she wasn't strong enough. Gene was a medium, so he couldn't help her. Takigawa's powers also didn't worked. Lin's shiki would be able to break the concentration of the monster.

So it left Naru. When she fall on him, she felt the power emitting from him. She looked on him from the corner of her eyes.

_'I need your help.'_

Naru jumped slightly when he heard someone in his head other than Gene. He kept his unemotional face, but looked on the girl from the corner of his eyes.

_'You can use telepathy.' _He more stated than asked.

He almost saw the girl rolled her eyes.

_'What gave me away?' _she aksed sarcastically but didn't wait for an answer. '_Do you see the stone on his necklace?'_

Naru nodded his head. It had caught his attention earlier. The monster was taking his sweet time talking how he was going to kill them.

_'You have to help me destroy it. I know that you have some power. Mine is not enough.'_

_'What do you mean?'_

_'Destroying the stone is the only to rip him of his powers. But this stupid thing is hard to break.'_

Naru caught what she meant. One power wasn't enough, but two combined…

_'It may be too dangerous. I don't know if you are able to hold my power.' _He said to Cat.

Seeing as he was the one being able to concentrate energy, she would cast the attack. If she tried channeling her power into Naru, it would burn him instead of help them all.

_'If I wasn't able to do that, I wouldn't propose it. We can't lose more time, Mai is in danger now.'_

That was enough to Naru. He knew that he had to safe Mai. And if to do that meant to trust the girl next to him this one time… he could do it.

He looked on Lin, who nodded his head. Even if he didn't know the plan, he knew what the look in Naru's eyes meant.

"Now, it's time for you to come with me." The monster said, and the air around them thickened.

Lin put his finger to his lips, knowing that it was their last chance to start fighting. He blew and white strings flew to the man in front of them, circling him.

It gave them time.

_'Gene, move away.' _Naru said to his brother who turned his head to him.

When Gene spotted blue aura around his brother, his eyes widened.

_'Noll, it's too dangerous!'_

_'Just trust me.'_

Something in Naru's eyes told Gene that there was no other way. Suddenly, he felt someone grabbing his arms and pushing him back.

He kept his balance and looked up, his eyes widening even more.

"Naru, stop it!" Lin called franticly, but he knew that it was too late.

Naru and Cat stood in front of them, one surrounded in blue aura, the other in red. They had their backs to them, their clothes and hairs flipping from the energy which they were concentrating.

Takigawa didn't know why, but the sight in front of him was somehow enchanting. Two teens in front of him were some kind symbols of power. Yet, it was dangerous even witnessing it in some way.

The air around them started to sparkle.

"What are they going to do?" Takigawa shouted, covering his eyes with his arm.

"I think that they are going to… combine their powers." Gene answered him, looking on his brother and new friend.

"This idiots!" Lin muttered under his breath. "It can kill them."

But still, they couldn't do anything.

Finally, the monster dealt with Lin's shikis. All of them were pushed away from him. breathing heavily, angry that they show him resistance, he glared on them, especially on both teens n front of him.

He didn't know why, but suddenly something inside him move. Maybe he knew that he would not defeat both of them at the same time. When they opened their eyes, once intensive blue shimmering with power the others also intensive green, he actually fought a shiver. But the fear in him was something new. And he didn't like it. Ignoring it, he moved to strike at them.

At that was the signal for Naru and Cat to act. Knowing that she had only one chance, Cat connected her power with participles of Naru's power next to her. When it started to grow in her hand, she felt slightly dizzy. She knew what it was. Too much power to hold in one hand. Biting inside of her mouth she concentrated her eyes on the stone. And fired the attack.

The power of it was so strong, that even the men standing behind them felt it as it brushed past them. They had to struggle to keep their balance. Even Naru was moved a little from his place. The walls around them shivered and fall down, the maze completely destroyed. They were lucky that the whole school didn't fall down.

They all looked as the string of connected blue and red power run straight in the direction of the stone and stopped for a moment, as if there was some barrier. But it didn't last for long. Soon enough, it hit the stone with all strength, sending the man who was wearing it on the wall. He was almost completely pushed in to it, the red parts of stone lying around him. He fall on the ground without moving.

The air around them was still holding some remains of the power which had been used just seconds ago. The auras around Cat and Naru disappeared already and they stood in their places.

"Oi, you two, are you okay?" Takigawa asked and together with Lin and Gene, they moved closer to the teens.

Naru shook his head as if summing out from deep thoughts and turned around to them.

"I'm fine." He answered calmly as always. But everyone knew how much it take from him to use his PK. "Hyuga-san?"

Cat was going to answer, but before she was able to, her eyes closed and her knees gave up from under her. She fall down straight on Gene who caught her before she hit ground. He was glad that she wasn't hot like last time.

"Is she okay?" Takigawa asked, bending down to him.

Gene put a hand on girl's neck.

"She has a pulse, not strong but noticeable." He answered, looking up on the rest. "I will take her out from here and you go for Mai."

He could see the look in his brother's eyes. Naru wanted to get sure that Mai was all right. Sure, he was concerned about Cat, since thanks to her they were able to destroy the stone, but still… it was Mai who he loved.

"Takigawa, go with Gene. Call an ambulance." He ordered.

He didn't have to tell Lin to go with him.

Gene stood up, collecting unconscious Cat in his arm, and together with Takigawa they made their way through the fallen walls to the exit.

_'Be careful.' _Gene said to his brother.

_'I always am.' _Naru replied.

_'I mean it, Noll, you just used you PK. You know how it ends.'_

_'I'm perfectly fine, Gene, don't worry. Hyuga-san took most of it.' _Really, he felt better than ever after using his powers.

_'Fine. Now go play a role of knight in shining armor and rescue you princess.' _

Naru narrowed his eyes.

'_I'm not the one who has girl in his arms, dear brother.'_

No answer.

Naru looked on Lin, who nodded his head, watching his young boss carefully. The boy looked ahead. Now, when the walls were down, the doors to the room were visible clearly.

=G-H=

Mabara panicked. The stone was destroyed, he could feel it. The power left him. He was normal human, mare human, again. He looked on the bodies around him and the girl chained to the wall.

"I… have to finish it." He said to himself, picking the knife from the table. "I have to kill her."

He moved to Mai with strange look in his eyes. She struggled against the chain, but for nothing. Her eyes widened when her end was closer and closer. When the man stood directy in front of her, she closed her eyes, waiting for the worst.

"Put the knife down, Mabara, or I will personally make your life hell."

Mai's eyes flew open at the voice. She felt the happiness rising in her chest. Naru came to her rescue.

=G-H=

Yamamoto was furious. He was standing in the base were this kids were told to wait, but it was empty. Where the hell they were? Angry, he marched from the room and strolled down the corridor. When he turned around the corner, he stopped.

Right in front of him, was the blond man who called himself a monk and one of the boys, he couldn't tell which one, with the unconscious girl in his arms.

"What the hell are you doing here?"he shouted at them, causing them to flinch and look his way.

"Before you start accusing as again." The boy interrupted him, looking straight into his eyes. "If you go there, you will find real culprit. If you want, Bou-san will show you a way."

Yamamoto stared at the boy in front of him. Something in his eyes was telling the detective that he should do as he told him. Also, the way he was protectively holding the girl to himself… could they really hurt themselves, like he had been told before?

With a moment of hesitation detective pulled out his phone and called for the rest of his people.

"You will go with me." He told Takigawa and then turned to Gene. "And you call an ambulance to you friend, she looks like she need it."

Gene nodded his head, not even bothering with answering. He could fell Cat's breath on his neck, where her head was resting, was getting more shallow with every passing minute. Her face was also very pale.

Takigawa shoot both teens concerned glacne before moving in to the maze, this time with detective, again.

=G-H=

_A/N:Just short tone, since I'm deadly tired. Sorry for mistakes, but it's really late. I will fix them later. Leave me a word about what you think about it ^^_


	14. Contrahere lapidem XIV

_A/N: disclaimer: I don't own anything, expect the OCs._

_revised: cryinglullaby_

_=G-H=_

Naru's glare could freeze hell.

Mai had never seen his eyes cold as this before. At that moment, she herself was legitimately scared of her boss. She saw even Lin flinch slightly when he glanced at the other man.  
She was glad that his eyes were rested on Mabara, who still stood next to her, with a knife in his hand. At least he wasn't pointing it to her. But the crazy look in his eyes still alarmed Mai. She knew that for Mabara, it was situation with no end. He was going to jail no matter what he would do now. One murder meant nothing to him at the moment.

And that made an even bigger monster from him than he had been before, when he was still influenced by the stone and demon.

"Put the knife down, Mabara." Naru repeated, his eyes glued on the older man.

The headmaster was still too close to Mai to his liking.

"No!" Mabara said, his grip on the knife tightening. "I have to finish my mission!"

"It's all over now." Naru said coldly, watching his every move.

At the same time, he was inching closer to Mai. He didn't put everything at risk in the maze for her to get killed now. Especially, when the most threatening danger was gone.

"The demon is gone. The fault of the murders is on your shoulders. Don't make it worse." Naru continued. In the corner of his eyes he saw Lin, who was moving closer to Mabara, without the older man seeing it.

"No, I still have to finish it." The headmaster shook his head, as if hypnotized.

"We all know that the moment you touch my assistant, you will drop dead on the floor." Naru said, the dangerous note in his tone.

Mabara laughed. Mai couldn't stop the shiver. Even if the man was no longer under demon's possession, he still laughed terribly. Even worse of that man which had abducted her from her room.

"As if a kid like you could do anything to me." He said, looking at Naru with smirk present on his face. "But that's good. I will kill you and let her watch it. That was the plan after all."

He raised his armed hand up and was ready to jump on Naru.

But that couldn't happen on Lin's watch.

As soon as Mabara made a move in Naru's direction, heavy hand fell on his neck. In the second, he was lying on the floor, unconscious. Mai sighed deeply with relief, her knees giving away from beneath her.

For a long moment there she really had thought that it was her end. That her friends wouldn't make it in time. It was terrifying to even thinking about that. Now, when she had her so-called family in the body of SPR, the thoughts about death made her feel… empty. As if leaving the Earth was the worst thing which could ever happen. Leaving behind Bou-san, Ayako, Gene, John, Masako, Lin… and worst of all, Naru. The tears welled up in her eyes unwillingly when she thought about it. She looked in front of her, seeing the corpse of already dead girls and thinking how close she was to becoming one of them.

Suddenly, everything went black and she blinked surprised looking up straight into blue eyes of her boss.

"Are you all right?" he asked and if Mai was correct, she could see worry in them.

And to her greater shock, he didn't even try to hide it from her.

"I-I am fine." She answered blushing slightly, seeing how close they were.

Naru nodded his head, closing his eyes for a moment in relief. Thank God she was ok… he wouldn't forgive himself if something had happened to Mai. When Lin touched his shoulder, he snapped his eyes at him, looking sharply at the older man.

"Key. This should help to free Taniyama-san." The Chinese explained, handing the piece of metal to his boss.

Naru nodded his head and took it, a silent 'thank you' visible in his eyes. He turned back to his assistant, who was looking straight into his chest, gladly accepting the fact that she didn't need to look at the corpses in the room.

Naru quickly unlocked the chains on her wrists and Mai, having her knees fall asleep, promptly fell into his arms. Maybe it was shock or just relief, as soon as she felt his arms around her body when he caught her, the tears started to well up in her eyes again. She hide her face in his shirt, tightening her fists on his jacket, somewhere in her mind there was a thought that he would push her away in every moment. But to her great surprise, he only hugged her closer to his body, allowing her a comfort of his embrace. The sob shook her body and she didn't stop herself anymore and let everything out, crying in the arms of her narcissist boss.

"What the hell happened here?"

Naru looked up above Mai's head on the detective Yamamoto and two officers who were with him, all of them had their guns out. They were looking around the room, he could see that two younger man paled visibly when they saw the dead girls. He didn't blame them, it wasn't a nice view.

"Detective Yamamoto." Lin moved toward the man before Naru would say anything. "As you can see, we were able to stop the suspect before he killed another person."

The man looked down on the unconscious headmaster, who still was clutching the knife in his hand. For a moment he considered the option of still suspecting the team of ghost-hunters, but he looked on the crying girl and her face, where the fear was still written when she looked up from Naru's chest to look what was going on. Something in the detective told him, that he should do the right thing. With one last look on the pair behind the Chinese man and he turned to him again.

"Can you present me all the facts about what happened?" he asked with a stiff expression. He really hated depending on other people.

Naru almost smiled, still embracing Mai, when Lin began to talk to the detective. It looked like everything was going to be just fine. He looked down to the girl in his arms, whose tears almost stopped. There were only hiccups shaking her body from time to time.

"Are you sure you are fine?" he asked again, the need to know for certain that nothing bad happened to her was overwhelming him.

She nodded her head, wiping the tears away from her face and taking a deep, calming breath.

"I am, really. But I-I… don't want to think what would happen if you hadn't arrived." She said, her voice shaking at the end of the sentence. She looked at his chest again, not wanting to meet his eyes. "I was a-afraid that I would… die here." Her eyes watered again.

Naru shivered at the thought inside, even if he didn't show it. To Mai's great surprise, he suddenly pulled her again into his embrace, this time more to comfort himself than her. But Mai didn't mind.

At all.

"Baka." He whispered, so only she could hear it, and even she need to stretch her ears a bit. "I would never let you die."

Mai's eyes widened before she allowed small smile to grace her lips. It looked like the cold narcissist allowed some feelings and emotion to get out from him.

=G-H=

Mai looked at the destroyed corridor, wondering what the hell had happened there. From what she remembered at the short moment when she had regained consciousness when the kidnapper had her, there should be a maze. But now it was destroyed. She looked at Naru, who had permission to lead her away from the place.

To her great surprise, he looked away from her eyes.

Mai wasn't stupid. Naru would insist that she was, but it was only teasing. She connected the state of the corridor, Lin's concerned glances on the younger boy and the narcissist avoiding her eyes.

"You used your power again." She said more that asked, the angry mark throbbing on her head.  
Naru cleared his throat, still looking away.

"Actually, it wasn't only me. Even if my powers are stronger than others, I wouldn't be able to destroy the whole maze in one shot." He answered, finally looking at her.

Mai gaped at him. If he really used his powers, than he should be laying cold on the floor, not walking around.

"But how… you are still up?" she asked, surprised.  
Naru sighed. He really hated explaining things. Maybe when it came to Mai not as much as to others, but still…

"I wasn't the one channeling the power." He answered.

"Huh?" Mai asked very intelligently, looking at him.

"I will explain to you later, now we have to get away from him." he answered taking her hand and leading her out.

Mai didn't protest any more. But she still was going to give him piece of her mind for using his powers like that.

=G-H=

"Mai! Thanks goodness!"

As soon as they entered their base, she was taken into another embrace, this time by Takigawa, who was close to tears when he saw that she was all fine in one piece.

"If you keep strangling her, than I don't see any reason on why we went to save her." Naru said, brushing past them.

Takigawa looked at him, hurt.

"I'm just showing how happy I am!" he said, earning only a glare from his boss. But he loosened his arms.

Mai sat on the chair, glad that she was able to breathe again. She didn't want to be killed by her friend soon after she was rescued from that monster.

"Where is Gene and Hyuga-san?" Naru asked, checking his phone.

"Ah, they were taken by ambulance. Gene decided to go with Cat and then inform us when he would know anything about her state." He answered.

Naru nodded his head. He was expecting something like that, but wanted to be sure.

"And what happened with the man with stone?" he asked again, remembering that they left him in the destroyed maze.

"Two officers took him from there, already in handcuffs." He answered. "I came back with them to check on the two of them. I also knew that you would take good care of Mai." He smirked, and Naru lowered his head to hide his faint blush.

"Wait a moment!" Mai interrupted them, standing up from her place. "Why are Cat and Gene in hospital?" she asked.

Even if Naru promised her that he would explain everything, he didn't.

"You don't know?" Takigawa looked on her surprised, something shining in his eyes. "That was… magnificent!"

He explained everything to Mai, from time to time being interrupted by Naru when the boy decided that the monk was exaggerating.

To say that Mai was surprised by what Naru and Cat did was a misunderstanding. She didn't even know that something like that was possible. But after all, it was her boss we're talking about, he could do almost everything when he wanted to.

=G-H=

It was already late at night when Mai was allowed to go to her room. Before that she had to report everything to Yamamoto with the specifics. Even if he didn't suspect them anymore, he still was very demanding on knowing everything. It took her a long time to satisfy him with her answers.  
They also got a call from Gene, saying that Cat was stable, but the doctors didn't know when she would wake up from her sleep. Also, he gave them news about Ayako, who was standing over his shoulders demanding to bring her some of her cosmetics, and John, who was calmly sitting on the chair. He was glad that the miko had someone else to bother, he had her for enough to be tired.  
Mai looked around the room and shivered slightly when she remembered everything what had happened there not so long ago. But she decided to be strong and not give up. The monster of this school was destroyed, so there was nothing to be scared of. She would be all right. She took a quick shower and went to bed.

Before she closed her eyes, she smiled remembering the words which Naru said to her. It gave hope to her heart. Maybe, just maybe, he felt something for her. Something different than what a boss would feel to his assistant.

Two hours later Mai shot up in her bed, sweat running down her forehead. Like hell she would be all right alone. She looked frantically around, making sure that she was alone in the room, that the red eyes weren't watching her from anywhere. She sighed with relief when her eyes confirmed what her mind was saying. No one was there except from her. She didn't need to be afraid of anything. But still… when she suddenly heard some noise outside from her window she shivered with fear, hiding under the sheets. Even if she was used to being alone, after all she was living by herself, she hated it. She hated the fact that no one was there at her apartment when she was coming back from their cases.

There were times when she missed her parents. When she was younger, she always felt as if she wanted to cry whenever she saw kids in her age playing with their parents or walking around them. Of course, the teacher with whom she had lived for some time wasn't bad, but still- he wasn't her father and he had his own family. He was grateful that he had taken her in, but still, she would be more happy if her parents were alive. The loneliness she sometimes felt was too much to bear. She was very glad that she had met the SPR, who in some way were her family. But even if she knew that they would help her when she needed it, she still didn't want to butt into their lives with her problems. They had their own lives and business that had to deal with. So she smiled and pretend to be happy all the time. It was simpler.

Mai shook her head and sighed. She had strange thoughts in her head after a nightmare. She plopped down onto her bed, trying to think about happy moments in her life to get rid of her previous ones. She didn't need them right now.

=G-H=

Mai put the last monitor in the van, wiping the sweat from her forehead. They were packing all their equipment, but seeing as John and Ayako were still in the hospital, there was only her, Lin, Takigawa and Gene to do so. Naru was talking with the vice-principal of the school. Heading to Tokyo, they were going to stop at hospital to pick up miko and priest and also visit Cat, who still was unconscious.

"That's everything. Finally." Gene sighed, leaning against the van.

"I still think that Naru is taking too much equipment on every case." Takigawa commented, sitting on the ground.

"Oh, come on, guys." Mai said, smiling her big smile at them. "It wasn't that bad. And that's very important to have enough equipment during cases. It saved our lives many times."

Takigawa and Gene exchanged glances.

"it looks like someone has spent too much time with my dear twin." Gene commented with a smirk, winking at her.

"I think that there was a saying about that…" Takigawa said, pretending to be thinking about something with a finger on his chin. "Ah, I got it! People in love are getting more and more similar every day." He said with a triumphant smile.

Mai blushed deep red, looked at them and with her arms folded in front of her chest.

"I don't know what you two are talking about." She stated, turning away from them.

"Of course you don't." Gene's chuckle.

"It's so sad, they're going in denial all the time." Takigawa added, shaking his head, watching the younger girl's back with smirk.

"I'm not in denial about it!" Mai turned around with a red face.

"So, you are admitting that you're in love with Naru!" Takigawa pointed his finger at her a big smile on his face. For a second Mai wondered if he would split in halves.

"I'm not going to answer that." She moved in front of the car, passing by a smirking Gene, to hide her deeply red face from both men.

She leaned against the side of the car, pouting because of the two idiots, and waited for Naru to come, so they could go already. Suddenly something caught her eye. She looked at her right.

There, under one of the big trees, stood a single girl. Mai narrowed her eyes, trying to recognize her. Her eyes widened when she remembered where she had seen her. It was one of the dead girls. But the last time when Mai had seen her, she was covered in blood. But now, the red liquid disappeared and she was in her uniform, not in the dress which Mabara had dressed them in. Mai wondered if there was something they had missed during the case, but she soon smiled. The ghost nodded her head, smiling slightly at her. A silent 'thank you' reached the brown haired girl, who almost felt tears pricking from her eyes. It was the first time when the ghost actually thanked her for her help. It was nice. She nodded back at Miku, who slowly disappeared from her eyes to rest in peace. Now, Mai knew that her job was very important. And that she would never ever forget about it.

"What happened?" she turned her head to Naru, wiping her slightly wet eyes.

"Nothing." She smiled broadly at him, her cheerfulness at full charge again.  
Naru eyed her for a moment, not sure what to think about her tears, but seeing her expression, he decided to let it go. If she wanted to tell him, she would.

"Get in the car." He said instead, moving to his seat in the front next to Lin. Mai popped into the car with them and Gene, while Takigawa moved to his own car.

Mai looked through the window, for the last time looking on the old school. She hoped that they would never be back here again.

=G-H=

Mai wondered if she was going to die by being suffocated by her own friends. Again. This time Ayako was her attacker. After the older woman heard about her kidnapping, she hugged her with all her strength, saying how sorry she was for her.

"Ayako, you're suffocating her!" Takigawa said, patting the red head's head. "You know, it's strange to be the one saying it."

Finally, Mai was released from the deadly grip and Ayako turned her killing motives to the monk.

"You know, we're in a hospital. I'm not going to take responsibility if you get kicked out for being too loud." Naru interrupted them, watching everything with cold eyes.

With one last glare Ayako sat on her chair at the same time when Lin came back from talking with the doctor who was watching over Cat. They all looked at him, awaiting the news. He shook his head.

"She is still unconscious." He said, taking his place next to Naru. "They said that she lost a lot of her energy, so it will take few more days for her to regain it."

Naru nodded his head and Mai sighed. She really hoped that she would at least say 'bye' to the girl who helped after all to safe her from the demon. She didn't feel like going away without a word. She really liked Cat.

"I also asked them to call us when she regains consciousness." Lin added, seeing Mai's expression.

"Can I go and see her?" she asked, looking up at Naru, waiting for him to agree.

Naru decided that he couldn't disagree when she was looking on him with those eyes.

"But don't take too long." He said, glancing on his watch. "We have long trip before us."

Mai nodded her head happily and moved to the room, which number Gene gave her. She went inside, looking at the single girl on the bad, who had her eyes closed. She was pretty pale and had many machines connected to her body. Mai grimaced. The last person she had seen in that state was Naru after the case with the idol. She didn't really know if Cat had been in the same danger as he was after using his powers, but she hoped that it wasn't the case.

She sat on the chair next to Cat's bed and took the girl hand. Suddenly, without any warning, Mai felt very dizzy and rested her head next to her hands. Soon, she drifted into the sleep unwillingly.


	15. Contrahere lapidem XV

**_A/N: So... I have nothing to explain myself, really. Well, there were a lots of things which caused me to stop writing for a while, but I know that I should have been able to sit down and write something. But I had a little problem with what to write for a moment. So, I can only apologize and hope that you will forgive me. _**

**_This chap is not very long. And I'm also sorry for that. I will try to make it better in the next one ^^"_**

**_Hope you will enjoy it~_**

* * *

_The consciousness was slowly coming back to Mai. She groaned quietly and opened her eyes, only to have her vision blocked. Something was lying on her face, cold and wet. A moment of panic attacked her hardly and she quickly shoot up from her lying position, only to feel slightly dizzy. _

_"You shouldn't do that, onee-san."_

_A quiet, tiny voice speak from behind her, and whatever was blocking her eyes, fell over. She blinked surprised, glad to have her vision back. Mai turned around to see who her companion was._

_There was small girl with wavy brown hair behind her, dressed in blue knee-length dress. She was kneeling next to the small lake, dripping a handkerchief in the water, just like the one Mai had had on her eyes just a moment ago. _

_"Where am I?" she wasn't sure if the girl was a ghost or something, but the experience had learned her already to be cautious during her visions. Or reality. Both places weren't save enough for poor Mai. _

_The little girl turned around looking on her curiously. She wasn't older that six years, Mai decided, but her green eyes weren't smiling, like they should to small child. Something stirred in Mai's memory. She knew that girl._

_'_Who is she?' _she thought to herself._

_"It's a forest close to my house." The girl answered, standing up and coming closer to her, handkerchief in her hand. She kneeled down next to Mai, handing her a wet thing, in the same time taking the previous one. "I found you here. You were lying next to the tree."_

_Mai only nodded her head, accepting the explanation. She knew that it was one of her vision, but it surely was different than before. And the little girl, somehow familiar. Mai felt strangely calm with her, as if nothing was there to be scared of. Her long brown hair and intensive green eyes. Even if there was still a innocence, she had also a guarded look. Characteristic for a person who was scared of close contact. _

_But still, ghost or not, she was a little child. Mai smiled to her friendly. _

_"I'm Mai. Thank you for taking care of me." She said, putting her hand in front of her, still smiling. _

_There was a moment of silence, when the little girl was looking on her hand, as if considering what to do with it. If it was safe. Then, a little hesitant, she took it and shook delicately. _

_"Cat. And you are welcome." She answered and blushed shyly when she saw Mai's smile. _

_Mai froze for a moment._

_Cat._

_Could it be… that somehow she encountered a younger version of her new friend in her sleep? Well, it was true almost for sure, looking at the similarity between them. _

_But. It'd never happened before, unless the person was dead. And the last time she checked, Cat was doing all right in her hospital bed. Only unconscious. _

_It was different from the time, when she had been meeting Gene in her dreams. He was, for one, in his normal age, not younger or older. And he was there as her guardian, no as the person who she could encounter in her vision._

_Aware of the eyes on her, she kept her smile. _

_"So, Cat-chan, what you are doing here alone?" she asked, deciding to gather some information. It would be helpful to guess what was going on._

_Maybe she wasn't as smart as her narcissist boss, but she had learnt during the time she had spent with him._

_The little girl shrugged her shoulders, looking on the side. She looked like a kid who did something forbidden. _

_"Just walking around." She answered quietly. _

_"Huh? Aren't your parents worried?" Mai blinked surprised a little._

_Close to home, but it was still dangerous to let a little kid wandering around alone. Especially in the forest, where someone could hide._

_Cat mumbled some answer under her nose, not audible for the older girl to hear. _

_"Can you say it again?" Mai asked, leaning a little to hear better._

_But she got no answer. The girl just continued looking on the side with stubborn face. _

_With a little sigh, Mai looked around closely for a first time. Not far away, she could see an outline of very big house, a mansion. The little girl had said before that her house is close, so Mai suspected that it was it. She turned back to the girl. _

_"I will help you get home, ok?" she stood up, again reaching a hand for a small girl to take it. _

_She didn't know why, but something in smaller version of Cat made her maternal instinct to kick in. Totally different than when she was around the older one. _

_Cat looked on it for a moment, hesitating again. Mai decided that she really had something against trusting. Well, it was on one way good, but on the other not so much. But after a few seconds of silence, a small hand took the bigger one. _

_They started to walk in silence. Mai tried to start a conversation, but the small girl only replied with one word or nod of her head. It was pretty strange for a kid to be so quiet. But well, there were different people around the world. But from what she knew about Cat, she wasn't a very quiet person._

_When they were nearing the edge of the forest, Mai stopped suddenly. This feeling. She knew it. _

_Too well._

_"Who is it?" the green eyed girl asked suddenly, pointing something with her finger. _

_If Mai was a person who used curse words, she definitely would do it at the moment. Cat was pointing on a small girl, around her own age, dressed in white long gown. She had long black hair which covered her face, but the eyes, which were shimmering through it made Mai felt suddenly really terrified. The eyes of the ghost… they were red. All too familiar red. _

_"Cat-chan, I think we should…" she started, but it was too late._

_The little girl slipped his hand from her and moved in the direction of the ghost as if enchanted. Mai called her name few times. But she didn't reacted._

_As Cat was enchanted to go in the direction of the girl, Mai was glued to her spot, not able to move an inch. _

_A startled scream of little girl was mixed worried scream of older girl._

_=G-H=_

"Mai is taking her time." Gene commented, leaning on the wall next to his brother sitting form. Rest of the people were either outside or somewhere else in the hospital.

Naru glanced on his watch, impatient expression visible on his face. He had told his assistant to be quick, but as always, she ignored him completely. He would understand it if Hyuga was at least conscious. They would talk and lost the track of time. But in that situation, how saying goodbye to an unmoving person could take so much time? We are talking about Mai, though. Not once he had caught her talking to herself, so speaking to an non-responding person wouldn't be so different. At least for her.

Without a word to his older twin, he stood up with little sigh.

"Where are you going?"

Naru didn't even glance on him, moving past his brother in the direction of the room, where Mai had disappeared some time ago.

"To bring the idiot back, she is making us late." Was the cold answer.

Gene sighed slightly and pushed from the wall to follow his brother. Really, he was sure that this case would stir some things between his twin and Mai, but it looked like he had hoped for nothing. Naru was really annoying with his stubbornness.

=G-H=

_Mai stirred again, this time feeling pain in every inch of her body. She grunted and tried to move, but was stopped by the weight, which was lying on top on her. _

_For a moment, she felt very confused. Everything was blank and she had no idea where she was or why she was there. _

_But then it came back to her. _

_She didn't have any idea how she had been able to break the trance which had been stopping her from moving, but she had done it anyway when Cat's scream echoed through the forest. With all her strength she had jumped to the younger girl, just in time when she started to fall into some hole._

_Very deep hole. _

_With hard bottom. _

_Mai opened her eyes immediately, looking around. Cat was still lying on her and it looked like she was unconscious. The older girl quickly run her hand over small body on top of her to check for any injuries, but to her great joy she found nothing. It was good that she was safe. _

_Sighing slightly, she looked up, on the clear sky above her head. She started making a plan how to escape from there, but nothing came to her mind. She was sure that she wouldn't be able to climb it. Especially not with Cat there. And she would never leave the girl behind._

_She closed her eyes again. _

_And opened them, when something stirred close to her. Her eyes landed on Cat, but the little girl was still unmoving. _

_With terrified expression, she looked up, only to see red eyes and smiling broadly face. _

_The smile was giving her shivers all over her body. _

_"Hello there." The little girl from before, who had caught Cat's attention, said to Mai, bending her head to look at her better._

_But… How?_

_All the Mai could think at the moment, was how the hell it was still alive. From what she had heard, Naru and Cat did good job with taking care of it. So…_

_Why?_

_"It was not me who you killed." The girl answered, her calm voice sounding strange in her body. Current body. "It was my brother, who you destroyed. But he always was a week one. Choosing people with shaky desires to be his vase. That's why he lost."_

_Mai blinked, thinking it over. _

_Brother?_

_If she remembered correctly, she had heard during their investigation that there were fur stones. And there was something about this stones being connected with some demon… she furrowed her brows, trying to remember more, at the same time hugging Cat closer to herself. _

_"W-who are you?" she stammered slightly over her own words. _

_The girl with red eyes looked on her with cocked head. _

_"I just said it. But I will explain it more clearly to you, stupid human. I'm one of the demons closed in contrahere lapidiem, as you calls our forms on Earth." The ghost, demon, replied on her question. "And I'm proud to call myself the strongest one. The one you knew was just a simple weak prick."_

_Mai's eyes widened with fear. _

_It took a moment for the meaning of it to sink in her mind. One of the contrahere lapidiem. The strongest one. _

_At that moment Mai knew. She had no chance again her. After all, it taken two strongest people she currently knew to destroy their previous enemy. And if the demon's words were believable, she was much stronger. _

_So what Mai, a medium with (theoretically) no power, could possibly do? How could she protect herself and Cat from her? _

_The fear break into her heart for a moment, but she collected herself when she felt that the little girl in her arms stirred, slowly coming back to her senses. She had to be strong._

_"I see you understand what position you are in." The girl smiled, seeing her reaction and fear in her eyes. But her face quickly changed. "Now, back to the business. I will make deal with you."_

_"What kind of deal?" she asked. _

_She knew pretty well that a deal with demon was never right thing to do. _

_"If you go away from this place peacefully, I will allow you to live. Your presence here is a little disturbing, you see." The demon said, sighing slightly, as if it was something unimportant, but needed to be dealt with. "I am here after that girl. We, demons, may not be very… considerable when it comes to our relationship with each other, but the revenge is something we love." _

_Mai's eyes furrowed, her arms closing protectively around Cat. _

_"You want to kill her because she destroyed him?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly even if she didn't want it. _

_The demon laughed with relief._

_"I'm so glad you understand it. Your little boss is second in the line, I will deal with him too. I decided to play with more vulnerable victim first." _

_Mai's heat quickened, making her broke into cold sweat. Naru… she was going to try to kill Naru too! She had to stop her… but how?_

_"Now. Please, remove yourself from her inner world."_

_Mai looked down on Cat. She was surprised when she saw two big green eyes looking straight into her brown ones. She could clearly see the emotions in them._

_Confusion. _

_Fear._

_Childish innocence. _

_Loneliness. _

_And also, something she didn't expected. _

_Trust. _

_Even if this Cat met her not long ago, she knew that this older girl wasn't someone who would hurt her. She was someone, in whom the little girl could put trust. _

_And that gave Mai strength. _

_With new fire in her eyes, the one which presented itself there for the first time, she looked straight into red eyes and said only one word._

_"No."_

_Everything erupted in bright light. _

_=G-H=_

Naru felt his eyebrow twitched at the sight of his assistant sleeping next to the unconscious girl. Honestly. He allowed her only to say good-bye, not to sleep with her new friend. In the innocent way, of course.

"They look so cute, don't you think?" Gene said from his side, smiling a little while watching the irritation emitting from his brother.

Naru opened his mouth to say something on this, but a look on his twin's face stopped him.

Gene was no longer smiling. Instead, he looked on the bed with alarmed look on his face.

"Something is here." He said only, his voice deadly serious.

Naru knew better than to ignore it. After all, Gene was the strongest medium he knew. After being together for so long, he knew when the case was really important.

"A ghost?" Naru asked, wanting to get more information. "Should I call John?"

"No, it's not… it's hard to explain." Gene closed his eyes for a moment, taking deep breath to calm his senses to allow him to feel more clearly. "It's here, but in the same time not. It's like…"

He knew that he didn't make much sense. He had experienced it only once before… His eyes suddenly snapped open. He knew why the feeling was coming to him as if from under the water, therefore not clear.

"You should wake Mai up." He said to his brother, he himself already moving to the other side of the bed. "Something is inside their dream."

Without second to lose, Naru moved to his assistant, trying to wake her.

"It's using astral projection?" he asked only, shaking the girl with concern in his eyes.

"Probably. But I'm not sure." Gene, seeing as there was no sense in trying to wake the other girl, put his hand on her forehead, trying to get better connection. He could feel that the link now was Cat.

Naru furrowed his brows, observing Mai. The girl looked so calm in her dream, as if nothing was wrong.

It was just her luck, he decided. They just finished the case, but she had to go and put herself into trouble again.

_'Damn it, Mai, just wake up.' _He thought to himself, trying again to wake her, with no result.

He promised to protect her, yet… he was so powerless.


	16. CL XVI: Case Closed

**_A/N: _****_ Just a quick few words. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapters. It's not the end of the story, since I'm going to put in few cases. I will try to upload more often but, with my university, I'm not sure if I will be able to do that. ^^" Sorry. _**

* * *

Mai opened her eyes only to blink straight into her favorite pair of blue ones. In very close proximity. For a moment she wandered if they had ever been so close before in the light, her mind was still a little foggy from the dream.

She had to admit that Naru's eyes were little darker than usual, and worry was written in them. Very clearly. She really hoped that it was directed at her. She anxiously lifted her hand to his cheek.

"Mai." Her boss stopped her movement with one word, bringing her back to the world of living, far away from her dreamland.

She blinked again and jumped straight in her chair, looking around.

She was again in the hospital room, next to Cat's bed who was still asleep. Gene was standing on the other side of the bed with Lin next to the wall. If she listened carefully, she would be able to hear Takigawa, Matsuzaki and John not far away, probably waiting in the corridor.

Everything was normal.

"Mai." Naru repeated, earning the girl's attention.

She moved her eyes back to his. They were still pretty close to each other and her cheeks get warmer a little when he looked straight into her brown orbs, as if trying to read her soul. She hoped he couldn't, sometimes her thoughts about him were… better to stay hidden in the dark corners of her mind. She felt really ashamed about them.

"What happened just now?" he asked.

Her eyes drifted back to sleeping form of Cat. She wandered how much time passes till the other girl would woke up.

"I had a vision. But it was a little strange…" she answered.

"Lin, get the rest of the team." Naru said over his shoulder. It was better for everyone to hear. He didn't want to waste time by repeating everything to the monk, miko and priest. It was bad enough that he would have to update Hara later if it was important.

Just like Mai thought, they were waiting just outside, because not even few seconds later she was in strong arms of Takigawa, who pushed past Naru.

"You are awake! You don't even know how much I was worried about you!" the monk cried over her head, tightening his embrace, making it harder to breath.

To Mai's luck, Ayako was close. With one sharp elbow to the stomach, she was free from the deathly, yet not un-nice, hug.

"We were all worried! What happened to you?" she asked, looking on Mai with worried look.

"She was going to explain that. So if you could calmly take your sits around, I would be grateful." Naru interrupted, standing next to Gene.

Takigawa and Ayako plopped down on the nearest chairs, muttering something under their noses. But they didn't say anything aloud. No, of course they weren't scared of Naru. Who would?

Well, maybe a little.

"In what way it was strange?" Naru asked, referring to Mai's earlier statement.

So she told them everything. About how she woke up in the forest with Cat next to her. How they both ended in the trap settled by the demon.

_Mai opened one eye, peaking if it was safe to look around. The light was gone. She relaxed her arms around little Cat. _

_It looked like, somehow, they both get out from the hole. Now they were few meters away from it, sitting on the grass._

_A quiet moan of pain from behind her made her turn around, alarmed again. _

_"Well, that was quite unexpected." The demon stated, shaking, lifting itself from the ground. " I would never suspect that you have so much power."_

_Mai blinked on him, not understanding. So much power? She wandered for a moment if it was talking to Cat, but what had happened just a moment before definitely wasn't the little girl's doing. It felt different from when green eyed girl used her powers._

_She looked on the demon again. It didn't look so good. It was shaking and almost falling down, not being able to stand properly. _

_"I will be back. Maybe not in few days, weeks, months, but wait for me. Now, you are also on my list. It's too dangerous to leave you alone."_

_With that, the black haired girl suddenly disappeared from her sight, before she could say anything. _

Naru put his finger to the chin. It really was different from her previous visions. And there were few things which wouldn't leave his mind.

He knew from the beginning that Mai was powerful, the fact that she was able to contact with Gene was proof good enough for him, but he always considered her as a medium. She was able to talk to ghost, experiencing their lives, contacting with them. None of the events from before had ever given him the idea that she could do something more. But now, it had to be her. She herself said that the power wasn't coming from Hyuga. If only he could see it himself…

It also looked like the case with Contrahere Lapidiem wasn't over. From what he knew about demons, they were very keen on revenge every stupid thing, just for their fun. And this demon in her dream decided that Mai's power were too dangerous for them. It would mean that it was on the same level as his or Hyuga. So that wasn't something to ignore. He had to take closer look on her during their future cases.

Not that he wasn't paying her much attention…

"That would be the reason why I wasn't able to connect with you." Gene said from his side and Naru pulled away from his thoughts. "This demon had to put some kind of barrier to stop us from interrupting."

"It was that strong?" Mai asked surprised. As far as she knew, Gene had never had any problems with astro-projecting to other peoples' dreams. She was the main example of that.

Gene only nodded his head, looking on his brother, who was deeply in thoughts.

_'What are we going to do now?' _he asked him in his mind.

'_There is nothing much to do. We have to watch Mai for the time being, trying to catch anything abnormal about her powers. It is clear that it was her doing, what happened there.' _Naru answered, still thinking about something more to do. But there was really nothing.

He also made mental note to contact Madoka, if there was anything she could find out about. Maybe she was an nuisance for him, but still- an useful one.

'_What about Hyuga?' _Gene asked again, and Naru made a little pause to thing.

Really, he was more preoccupied with thinking about Mai's safety…

'_Lin left his number already with the doctor to contact when the girl wake up. As soon as she is conscious, I or Lin will talk with her about the demon and what Mai learned.'_ He answered, not seeing other option.

They couldn't stay any longer in the town or at school. The new headmaster wasn't very happy to see them when they came to collect their computers. After all, they just put one of their teachers into prison.

'_Shouldn't we wait until she wake up?' _

Naru turned his eyes in his brother, his brow slightly rose.

'_If you want that much to spent some time with her, than stay.'_ He answered only, causing his brother to blush slightly. He smirked in return, causing him to scowl.

Mai was watching them both with slight interest. And surprise, since usually it was Naru who was scowling at the end of their 'internal argument' as she called it. She knew about the twins ability to communicate with each other, as the rest of the team. Gene blurted it out once, when they all had gone for a lunch. Sometimes Mai wished she knew what they were talking about, especially when it made Naru twitchy.

She turned her eyes on the girl, who was still lying unconscious. She was sure, that Naru would make them leave soon, but she had this strange feeling in her heart, that they would meet again, in the close future.

And just as she had assumed, after an hour, they were already on their way home.

=G-H=

Mai sighed tiredly, the last paper she had to fill in front of her. They had been in Tokyo for a week already, but she just recently found time to collect the paperwork about the case in Shora High School. She wrote down everything, just like always, what took her some time. Writing the last sentence, she put the folder away, murmuring to herself.

"Case closed."

She turned around in her chair to look through the window. They still hadn't any call from the hospital and, thankfully, no sign of the demon either in Mai's dream. She only hoped that she wouldn't see the red eyes in long time.

She glanced on the clock, wandering if Naru would let her off sooner. After all, she finished her work completely.

She stood up from her chair and straightened her skirt, but as soon she took a step in his office direction…

"Mai, tea."

Well, it looked like she would not go home earlier that day.


	17. New friends

_A/N: I can't say anything more, but that I'm sorry for taking so long time to upload. I can only explain myself by saying that my uni isn't allowing me to have much free time, since I have so much to learn that I don't into what put my hands. However, I will try to write the next chapter as soon as I will have some break from my exams. Enjoy this chapter._

* * *

The winter was coming big steps, the air around the town was already freezing. Mai hide her face deeper into the scarf around her neck, trying to warm herself. She was going to school, her classes would start in few minutes already.

As always, she arrived at the place when the bell rang. Her shoulders slumped slightly. How could it be, that no matter how much time before the start of the school she would get out from her apartment, she would still arrive at the last second? She would really like to know it.

As soon as she went into her class she was attacked by her excited friends.

"Did you hear? We are going to have a new student!" Midori screeched into her ear, making her wince a little.

"Who is it?" she asked, taking her bag off her shoulder and putting it on her desk. She didn't really understand why her friends were so excited, they had a newly arrived student just a week ago and there was no such uproar about it.

"Well, we don't know anything in particular, but he is rich!" Midori continued, her eyes shining slightly.

"And from very rich school too!" the other girl added, daydreaming too.

"So it's a guy, huh?" Mai asked, searching for her notes in her bag.

The other two girls exchanged looks with each other before answering.

"Well, we don't know that…"

"But we hope so!"

Mai sweatdropped, looking at them. Before she could say anything, however, the teacher came in and everyone took their places.

"Even if it's a girl, she may have a handsome brother." She heard her friends behind her back, and smiled slightly at their giggles.

She understood them at some point. After all, every girl wanted to have her own prince to arrive and take her to another world. Mai already found her prince.

Was he charming? Not really.

Was he handsome? Hell yes.

But he was also cold, narcissist, unfriendly and hard to get close to. But Mai had seen his other self already, the one which would always arrive and help her when she was in pinch. And this side made her love him even more.

Yes, Naru was her prince. But she still doubted that she was his princess.

Sometimes she wandered if it wouldn't be easier if she had fallen for Gene. But, he wasn't his twin. Even if they were the same, there was still something missing in the older brother for Mai to have the change of heart.

"…she came from Shora High School, I hope that you will greet her warmly." Her teacher's words woke Mai up from her daydreaming.

'_Shora? Wasn't it the school where we had our last case?'_ she thought for herself, looking at her teacher, who went to the doors to call the new student.

It was three weeks already. Few days ago Naru got a call from the hospital that Cat Hyuga was conscious. After that, he and Lin disappeared for some time. When they came back, they would only say that that there was some important business to take care off. Even Gene didn't know what it was about.

The new student walked in with the teacher. Her brown hair were pulled in the ponytail.

"My name is Hyuga Cat. Take good care of me, please." She said, bowing down slightly.

Mai knew that she had to look like the fish taken out of water. When Cat caught her eye and smirked on her, she was pulled out of her stupor.

"Huh?" she shot up from her chair, looking at the girl with widely opened eye.

* * *

"I don't believe that I earned an additional lecture for that…" Mai sulked, walking to SPR with her head down and dark cloud over her head.

A person next to her chuckled quietly, patting her on the back reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I think that it was…" Cat stopped to look for a proper word. "… cute?"

Mai only glared on her from the corner of her eye, but soon smiled also. She tried to be angry at Cat for not saying her anything, about changing schools and all, but she couldn't stop herself from being happy, that the girl was fine now. She tried to contact her after she found out that Cat was conscious, but somehow she wasn't picking up.

"Right!" Mai clapped her hands together, reminded about that small fact. "Why didn't you answer my calls?"

Cat shrugged only her shoulders, looking on the road ahead.

"I was pretty busy with packing and administration papers, than visiting home, and I just missed it, I think." She answered honestly, not seeing any sense in lying.

"Meany." Mai stuck her tongue at her, but small smile was visible on her face.

They finally arrived to the SPR. Mai sighed heavily, wandering what Naru would do to her after being late for an hour. But it wasn't her fault, really! The teacher just couldn't stop talking about how improper was shouting in the middle of the class on the new student.

"You are late." Were the first words which greeted her.

"Not my fault. I have to stay after school." She answered to Naru, knowing very well that saying why she had to stay wasn't good idea.

"What did you do, Mai? Tried to seduce some boy from your class?" Takigawa smirked on her, not seeing the glare which Naru sent his way.

That wasn't very good topic to joke around him.

"I did nothing!" Mai shouted at monk, her cheeks red from even thinking about it. "Anyway, I brought a guest!" she smiled suddenly, and everyone looked surprised at her.

It was something new to have a guest in SPR office, not a client. Mai had never brought her friends to her work place, since she knew very well that Naru wouldn't like even a little. After all, he hated when his time was wasted on something not important.

"Hello guys." Cat said, looking from behind Mai with small smile on her face.

For a moment there was a silence. Takigawa, Ayako and Gene were looking at the girl with shock on their faces. Well, even if they knew that the girl was awake, they never expected her to visit Tokyo, especially that her school was pretty far.

"At least you were useful Mai." Naru said, not looking at least surprised at the arrival of Cat.

Mai blinked on him. She didn't do anything and get praised? Even if it was said on so Naru-like way.

"You show our new co-worker a way to SPR." he explained himself, allowing small smirk upon seeing Mai's expression.

"What?" the brown haired girl turned around to look on her friend with her mouth hanging open. "Wh... how... when..."

Cat stopped herself from laughing aloud at her expression. It really was something worth remembering. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted.

"Mai, tea."

Yeah, Naru would always be Naru.

* * *

When Mai returned ten minutes later with tea for everyone, Cat was already sitting on the sofa, talking with the rest of guys.

"But how are you going to balance your school and working here? It would be pretty tiring to driving here all the time for cases." Gene asked, smiling to Mai when she put his tea in front of him.

Cat shrugged her shoulders.

"I moved here after I got kicked out from my previous school. From now on, I'm in class together with Mai." she explained shortly.

"You got kicked out?" Ayako looked on her.

"Yeah, the new principal said that my help to you wasn't appropriate since I was the student who attacked the head of school." there was clearly a sarcasm in Cat's voice. Even if she didn't like that place, still, the reason was laughable. "So when Shibuya-san offered me a work here with you, I accepted. The school here isn't bad so it's no problem, since my parents agreed to it."

"But you saved many student in your school! They had no reason to kick you out!" Mai exclaimed, not really able to understand the reasoning.

"Maybe, but it's all about image there." Cat answered honestly, shrugging her shoulders. It wasn't as if she was going to miss it. She'd never really liked it in first place.

For next few minutes they all were talking and having just good time. Naru, of course, evacuated himself to his office, not wanting to waste his precious time on unimportant talking. They found out that Cat moved into an apartment not so far away from Mai, close to walk to school.

Mai smiled, happy. She liked moments like that, when everyone were together, without worries and problems. Something was telling her that Cat would be great addition to their team. The girl was sitting next to Ayako and looked pretty at ease, talking with all the SPR. Mai took a sip of her tea, her smile even bigger. It looked like her small not-really family was getting bigger and she had no complaints to it. In reality, she was really glad about it. When her eyes caught the green orbs, she knew that now, at least, she would have someone to talk to.

Their happy time was interrupted by the knocking. All of them turned their heads around when older man went inside the office, looking slightly unsure, as id he didn't really knew what he was doing there.

Mai quickly stood up from her place and moved to the man, a polite and friendly smile on her face as always, when she was welcoming new clients.

"Good morning, sir, can I help you?" she asked, earning the man's attention. He looked at her with his watery blue eyes, slightly dimmed by the age.

"Ah, yes, good morning." the man answered her. "I have rather... er, strange problem." he cleared his throat.

Mai knew that type of people who were coming to them. They knew that they had a problem with ghost or other unnatural things, but didn't completely believed in it.

"Please sit down, I'll call the boss." she told him, guiding him to the coach, from which the occupants had already moved.

Then she went quickly to Naru's office and then Lin's. It looked like they were going to get new case.


	18. The forbidden feeling I

Mai looked through the window of the SPR's car, trying to hide her yawn. She had to get up so early that it hurt her almost physically. Why Naru always insisted on going on cases at that time of the day? It would be much more better if they could spent some more time in their warm beds under the covers.

She was sitting at the back of the van, together with Gene and Cat. The other girl was napping calmly, she was out as soon as she sat down in the car. Gene was reading some book, but Mai could see that his eyes dropping slowly and he would be gone soon too. Only she, for no apparent reason, couldn't sleep. An it was strange.

She let her head drop on the window, and she looked on the passing view. Everything was white, the forest was completely covered with snow. IT was also calm, and usually the monotonous sight would put her to sleep.

"Naru, how long are we going to drive yet?" she asked suddenly, pulling the boy out of his thinking.

"If you want to go the bathroom, I'd already warned you that you should do it before you get into the car." came the answer and Mai glared at the back of his head.

"I don't want to go to the bathroom!" she shouted with dignity, waking up sleeping Cat and pulling Gene from his almost sleeping state.

"What's going on?" the waken up girl asked sleepily, not completely understanding what was going on around.

"Mai forgot about her bladder before we set off." Gene answered her, looking with small smirk on his face. He heard everything before and now Mai didn't know who she would like to torture first: him or his brother.

"Oh... it happens sometimes..." Cat said, rubbing her eyes and yawning into her hand. She needed some more time before her brain would kick up and start working again.

"I told you already, it's not it!"

"Mai, if you have enough energy to scream, I'm sure that you can go over this folder." Naru interrupted her, handing her a folder about the information of the case they were going to.

Mumbling some not very nice words in the direction of Naru and his brother, she took a folder and opened it. She remembered the conversation they had with the man, who had come to them the day before.

_Mai, Gene, Cat and John were standing behind the coach occupied by their boss, while the new client was sitting on the other one. Mai had to admit that when all of them, minus Masako, were there, it was pretty crowded. _

_"I'm running a small hotel in the village few hours driving from Tokyo. Everything was getting great, I was going to give it to my son and his wife, but suddenly, strange things started to happen. I went to the police about it, but they can't do anything. They started an investigation, but it's still at one place." the man stopped for a moment, taking deep breath. _

_"Can you describe this 'strange things'?" Naru asked, while Lin typed everything down on his laptop. _

_"Some of the guests said about strange whispering in the night, someone was going around the room. But then, the worse things occurred." he stopped again before continuing. "I had few young couples in the rooms for a week. They also heard some noises during the night. I dismissed it as the effect of too much sake and imagination. But then... the young men from this rooms were attacked by someone... something. One fell down the stairs, other fell into small lake behind the hotel and almost drowned, the third one was crushed by the falling painting. It wouldn't be so strange, but everything happened at the same time in three different days. Exactly at the midnight, when all of them were supposed to be in their rooms. And all of them had the writing on their bodies, as if made with some nail or piece of glass: "You deserved it"." the man made a pause and looked on Naru, as if not sure if the boy believed him. _

_Mai shivered slightly. It looked like they again were going to have a bloody case. She hated it. _

_"The police is sure that it's not a work of their girlfriends?" he asked, resting his chin on his hand. "Maybe they did something what enraged them?" _

_"The problem is, all of their rooms were locked from outside, so the girls couldn't get out." the man answered._

_Naru was sitting quiet for the moment, considering the situation. _

_"When can you have us?"_

* * *

When they finally arrived at the place, Mai was first to get out of the car. She really didn't like to sit in one place for long time, especially when she couldn't sleep. She looked on the building, in front of which they parked their car. Takigawa, Ayako and John weren't there yet, but they were going to stop for Masako, so they were expected to be late a bit.

It was not some big hotel, just the regular one, in size of big house. It had two floors, around five rooms on one floor, as Mai deducted from the number of windows (she only wished she could tell Naru about how smart she was getting). It was surrounded by small forest, and she was sure that during the summer and autumn it's very colorful and full of life, but now, everything as covered in white. Well, maybe sitting in car wasn't that bad, at least it was warm there.

"Let's move inside, the owner is waiting for us." Naru said from her right and surprisingly, he put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her slightly in the direction of the doors.

Mai for a moment didn't know what to do, so she just moved forward. Even through the thickness of her winter coat, she could feel the warm of his hand, what was strange but she left it aside, and she had a strange feeling that her face was all red. Well, she was sure about it when she caught Cat's eyes and small smirk on her face, which told her: yes, she was red almost as bright as street lights.

All of them moved inside, happy for the possibility of getting warm. The most happy was however Cat, since she hated cold with all her might, her powers needed warm after all.

"You are here, I'm so glad!" came the voice from inside and when Mai looked in the direction where it come from, she spotted their client.

"Mr. Yosuko." Naru nodded his head to the man.

"I prepared the rooms just like you requested. One for four person, one for three and one for two. I also prepared the base, as you asked, it's close the entry, the room on you right." Mr. Yosuko said, pointing the closed wooden door.

"Thank you. After we put the equipment in the base, we would like to interview some of your workers and guests. I hope it won't be any problem?" Naru asked the owner, but Mai knew that there was no way the man would refuse him. No one refuses Kazuya Shibuya, after all.

"Of course not, I will sent everyone as soon as you will be ready." the man answered.

Naru looked at his subordinates, and they all knew what was going to happen now.

"Why are you so down suddenly?" Cat asked, looking on Mai, who sighed tiredly. Sometimes, she hated this job.

"Because now we are going to walk few times between here and the car to take the equipment." Mai explained to the new worker, and Cat suddenly understood the change in her attitude.

Takiwaga, Ayako and John were really lucky. Mai would even bear the long drive with Masako and her instant remarks... or not, she wouldn't. Together with Cat and Gene she moved to the van to get the equipment ready.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but it's only to tell about what the case is. I'll write something more interesting in the next one, so please, bear with me. ;)_


	19. The forbidden feeling II

It was already evening, when Mai was able to go to her temporary new room together with Cat to take a shower and get ready to beds. Masako and Ayako were yet to arrive. Masako's earlier job had been stretched in time a little, as she said during the phone call, but they were expected to come in the next hour or so. Mai could be lying if she said that she was missing the dark haired medium. She had tried to be friendly to the girl, honestly. Many times had she tried to forget her jealously concerning Masako's feeling toward Naru, but was always met with indifference. It looked like the other girl sworn to be her enemy to the end of their lives and nothing would change that.

"The bathroom is all yours." Cat said, interrupting her thinking, walking into the room with towel on wet hair.

"Thanks." Mai smiled to her new coworker and friend.

She was slightly upset that they weren't able to hang out before the case, but there was nothing to do about it. They needed their sleep before arriving to the place, so she had decided to invite Cat to her apartment later on, when they came back.

Mai stood up from her bed, taking up her bag and searching for clothing to sleep. She really would use the hot shower and then, the comfortable bed. Even if they didn't do much that day, nothing more then setting the equipment and taking the temperature from the main rooms, she was oddly tired. maybe it was the lack of sleep or the weather.

"So, how is this Masako girl?" Cat's voice snapped her attention to the girl.

"Masako?" Mai repeated and than it dawned on her that Cat didn't know the medium. She looked up for a moment. "She is moody, unfriendly end very snobbish person. But in the same time, she is very good medium, respected by others." she answered honestly, even if praising Masako wasn't on her 'to do' list.

"Seems like you like her _so _much." Cat commented with raised brow, taking the towel off her hair and letting them lose.

Mai sighed a little.

"We just don't get along very much. Since our first meeting."

"And why is that?" Cat asked again, lying down and looking on the other girl with interest.

Answering that she and Masako didn't like each other because they were both interested in Naru, would be equal to admitting her crash on him and she didn't feel like wording it just yet. Feeling the slight blush forming on her cheeks, she quickly gathered her things and went to the bathroom.

"We just have different personalities." she answered on her way.

Cat raised her brow again, watching her back. After a moment small smirk formed on her lips when she remember what Takigawa had slipped one time ans she said, just when Mai was closing bathroom's door.

"Sure you are."

* * *

Cat lied down on her bed, taking out a phone from her back. She checked it, however wasn't very surprised by the fact, that there was no missing call. After all,she didn't have that much friends in her previous school to begin with and her family would never call her without reason. She put her phone on the table and stretched just in time when the doors to their rooms opened.

"Aw, how sweet, little kitty is doing some exercises." Takigawa exclaimed, walking into the room behind red head woman and dark haired teen, carrying their bags.

Great amount of them, actually.

Cat felt the vain on her forehead popping out and she glared on the blond man.

"I'm going to burn you." she threatened him and he only smiled sheepishly.

But it was quickly wipped out of his face when the temperature in the room went higher.

"Cat, I'm not going to complain if you do a harm to the idiot, but please, spare our lives." Ayako said with slight amusement.

The girl blinked and controlled herself, but her glare on blond man didn't waver.

"Who are you calling an idiot?"

"Obviously you, there is no one better fitting to the description than you!"

"I'm not an idiot, you old hug!"

"Now I'm going to murder you!"

Cat only sighed, deciding that the harm which Ayako would put on Takigawa was enough. She moved her eyes to the other girl, who was watching the exchange with bored and somehow annoyed expression on her face.

"If you are going to behave like ill-mannered children, I would advise you to go outside." Masako said, turning her attention away from the pair with her nose up. Her eyes fell on the new person.

Cat didn't know how, but she reminded her in some way about her new boss. And she still didn't know if it was good. But, she still smiled and stood up from her bed. Being nice isn't going to hurt her.

"Hi, I'm Hyuga Cat." she said, bowing a little. her mother would have a heart attack seeing that. "Please take care of me during our work together."

Masako looked at her. She didn't bow, however, how Cat would expect and didn't even introduced herself. The only words she heard left her speechless.

"I really hope that you are not as lazy and stupid as Mai. In other way, I won't be able to tolerate you."

Cat straightened and looked on the girl. Her mouth were opened, but she didn't care about that. If she had heard her correctly, than this girl just managed to piss the hell out of her. Ayako and Takigawa were silent for a change, watching both girls.

"I still don't understand why Shibuya-san is so keen to hire amateurs." Masako sighed sadly. "Please, bear in you mind that I'm professional medium, so I won't have time to answer your silly questions if you have any."

There was a moment of silence, during which she expected Cat to say something. Green eyes looked coldly on her.

"Don't worry, as an amateur I'm not going to ask you any questions." Cat answered finally, her tone overly sweet. Masako nodded with acceptance. "After all, I don't think that there is much more in you head than clear air and big ego." she smirked a little. "And already, Naru promised to answer my questions."

She knew that it was low hit,but the girl really pissed her. She hoped that Mai would forgive her.

The black haired teen turned around without another word and moved to one of free beds.

In the same time, the bathroom's door opened and Mai came out.

"I forgot..." she stopped, looking on everyone. "What's with this atmosphere?"

* * *

Mai really liked taking a shower. The feeling of hot water on her skin always made her relaxed and comfortable, no matter of the situation. She really should have known better that leaving Cat alone during the first meeting with Masako. But, well, she hadn't expected that the medium would be in one of her moods. Ayako whispered to her that there was something wrong on the program Masako was participating, but still... it's going to be so awkward in the room. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth, when she suddenly snapped them wide open, alerted by something. She stood for a moment unmoved, not sure what caught her attention. She was about to turn the water off, when the sudden dizziness attacked her, and everything went black.

_She was sitting on the comfortable chair, her eyes closed and smile on her face. Someone was playing with her hair, brushing them and twisting. She could feel and hear herself humming some unknown to her melody. Everything was going to be okay, her life couldn't be any better. She was indeed born under the lucky star._

_"Toshiko-sama?" the person who was playing with her hair asked suddenly, and her eyes snapped open._

_"Yes?"she asked with small smile._

_"Are you sure about your decision? You know, there is still time to take back you word..." the voice continued._

_She laughed with humor._

_"You are worrying to much. I told you, everything is going to be just fine, Rin-chan." she answered. She still had to persuade her friend to skip this '-sama' crap. It was really tiring._

_"But I'm not sure if he is the right person for you. Maybe you should wait with the wedding for some time yet?"_

_She could feel herself rolling eyes at the worries. Really, how many times they were going to have this conversation yet?_

_"The thing is, that I don't want to wait!" she exclaimed, standing up from her place and walking to the window. Summer was coming big steps. "I know that he is the only one for me, there is no one else. He is presented in my heart, my mind, all the time. I can't thing about anyone else. He is the most important person in my life!"_

_There was a moment of silence, before the hesitant voice asked._

_"... and what about me?"_

_She was silent for a moment, a little confused by the question._

_"About you?" she turned to her friend and laughed with humor at her friend's foolishness. "Of course, we are going to still see each other. You are my best friend since we were little! You haven't thought that I'm going to abandon you when I get married?"_

_Her friend eyes escaped from her look. She sighed._

_"Really, Rin, how could you? You know very well that no one is going to take your place in my heart, even the king wouldn't be able to do that. I'm always going to be here for you. It's not going to change."_

_Her next words were interrupted by the knocking to her bedroom's door._

_"Now I have to go. I will be back in an hour, wait for me, ok, Rin?"_

_With that, she went out of the room._

_She missed the way brown eyes looked after her. She missed the way her best friend grabbed her dress in her hand._

_'Maybe no one is going to take my place in your heart... but I want nothing more than to take someone else place there.' the black haired girl thought, looking as the blond closed the door behind it._

* * *

_A/N: Sorry to all Masako's fan, I know I made her a little bitchy. But somehow, I'm not very found of her character. I'm not saying that she is going to stay like that for the whole fanfic, however. Hope you enjoyed it._


	20. The forbidden feeling III

"Mai… Mai… Wake up… Mai!"

Mai heard the terrified voices screaming somewhere nearby, but she didn't want to open her eyes. She felt extremely tired and just wanted to sleep.

"Maybe we should call for an ambulance?"

It was Takigawa, she was sure of that much.

"She looks perfectly fine; perhaps she is merely pretending to be unconscious to gain attention?" Masako. Really, one couldn't help but _love_ that girl.

"Of course she's perfectly fine after almost drowning herself. There is absolutely nothing wrong with her, what on earth would have made us think otherwise?" She wondered if the sarcasm in Cat's voice could rival Naru's.

Her head was throbbing and she felt like throwing up. For a moment she wondered what Cat had meant by saying she had almost drowned herself. The last thing she remembered was warm water running over her body and the relaxing feeling that came with it…

"Talking about Naru… I'll go and fetch him. He's going to kill us for not calling him sooner." Ayako's footsteps were getting further away and Mai heard the doors open and close.

She would have appreciated silence, but the voices just wouldn't stop, always calling her name.

"I'm sorry, but I have to." Cat's voice said and Mai wondered what she was talking about.

She opened her eyes when she felt a hard slap on her cheeks. She blinked a few times before she was able to concentrate on making out the people present in the room. Takigawa and Cat were watching her closely with worry written all over their faces, while Masako was standing next to them with her sleeve covering her face.

"H-how are you feeling?" Cat asked, her hand still raised in the air.

Mai took a moment before responding.

"I'm fine, I think." She whispered, still feeling slightly dizzy. "What happened?"

"Well we heard a loud thump so we decided to check on you. It's a good thing you didn't lock the doors." Cat answered her, relaxing slightly. "Thank God you weren't under the water for long or things could have gotten ugly. Bou-san got you out."

"Mai, don't scare us like that! I thought you were going to die for a moment there when I saw you under the water!" Takigawa exclaimed, sighing in relief and sitting down on the floor.

Really, that girl was going to give him a heart attack one of these days.

"I told you she was going to be fine." Masako stated and Mai saw Cat closing her eyes and shaking her head. The medium exited the bathroom and moved to their room.

"What happened?"

Mai opened her mouth to answer, but closed them when quick footsteps were heard.

"Can someone explain to me what happened?" A cold voice repeated the question from the doorway and the three inhabitants of the bathroom turned to Naru who was watching them.

Lin, Gene and John were standing behind him and Mai could see the red head of the miko in the background.

"Mai blacked out in the shower." Takigawa explained shortly. Really, there wasn't anything else to tell.

Naru furrowed his brows, concentrating his eyes on his assistant. A rare look of worry crossed his face, but he quickly hid it under his normal mask of cold indifference. When he had heard from Ayako that something had happened to Mai he had rushed form his room, calling for Lin and the rest on the way. He should have expected whatever was haunting the small hotel to attack his assistant as soon as they arrived. It was already a normal occurrence during their cases.

"Why?" He asked simply.

Mai looked at him.

"Actually, I had a vision." She answered, thinking about it. She usually had her visions when she was asleep, so why would it happen when she was completely awake?

"What was it about?" Naru asked, sinking completely into boss mode. He had calmed down once he saw that Mai was all right.

"Um… Sorry to interrupt, but maybe it would be better if Mai got dressed first?" John asked hesitantly, carefully averting his eyes and looking off to one side.

Mai blinked and looked at herself for the first time. Well, she had just recently been pulled from the shower…

A loud embarrassed scream rang through the silent evening, scaring a group of rabbits that had been searching for food near the hotel.

It was a small relief that one of the people who found her had been kind enough to cover her with a towel, not that it covered much anyway.

* * *

Naru was sitting on one of the beds in the girl's room, trying to get rid of the image of Mai in the bathroom. Honestly he hadn't noticed at first, more concerned about her safety than about her attire. It wasn't until John pointed it out that he had really looked at her, and for the time being it was permanently burned into his mind.

_"You so liked what you saw."_ His brother's voice rang inside his head.

Naru glared at him.

_"Sometimes I wonder about your intelligence."_ He answered him, desperately trying to hide his blush. There was no way he would show it to the stupid medium.

The smirk on Gene's face was never a good sign.

_"The next time you're thinking of improper things you better guard your mind. You're so easy to read at times like this."_

_"I advise you to be quiet."_

_"Please, I know that you were thinking about her…"_

There were times when even Naru would lose his cool. A flying pillow hit the older twin straight in the face, causing him to fall back on the bed. It didn't, however, stop his laugh. The other occupants watched them with varied amusement and surprise.

"Yeah… That's normal." Ayako decided, looking from one twin laughing on the bed with a pillow on his face to the other, who was glaring daggers at his brother.

"I know I haven't been here long, but seeing Naru throwing things is something I definitely hadn't expected to see." Cat commented, her brows raised.

"Get used to it; strange things are always occurring in our job." Takigawa stated, grinning at the younger girl.

Their conversation was interrupted when Mai stepped out of the bathroom, fully clothed, her cheeks pink and eyes murderous as she glared at the males of the SPR team. Maybe it wasn't their fault she was in the state which she was in, but really, they should have been decent enough to at least turn around when they had seen she was undressed. She was going to get her sweet revenge on them one day.

"So… how are you feeling Mai?" John asked, twitching slightly under her glare.

"I have been better but thank you." She answered, although her eyes didn't change a bit.

When Mai was pissed, hell would be seen on earth. And being seen almost naked by her co-workers (not to mention that one of them was her crush) was definitely pissing her off, big time.

"What was your vision about?" Naru asked in his usual voice, her glare not affecting him in the least.

Mai moved her glare to him, but he only stared coldly back at her. Somehow, strangely, it was enough to calm her down a little, even if the blush didn't disappear from her cheeks. Still, she knew there was no way to win a staring contest with her boss, he was master at it. So, sitting herself down on the edge of Cat's bed since her own was occupied by the one and only narcissist, she told everyone what she had seen in her vision.

There was a moment of silence when she finished.

"So, what we know for sure is that two girls are somehow connected with the things that are going on around here." Takigawa said from where he was leaning against the wall.

"Or only one of them" Ayako added, sitting on a chair next to the window.

The vision Mai had seen didn't really give them much information to go on, but it was better to examine everything than be sorry later about missing something.

"We at least have some names to start our research." Naru stated, standing up. "We have to find out if there was anyone called Toshiko or Rin in the history of this building. Based on the titled they used the first girl had a higher social status than the other one. That is what I have deducted at least."

Everyone nodded, listening to him. He was the brain of their team after all.

"So, what's the plan?" Gene asked, looking at his brother.

"We're going to ask the manger if he knows anything about these names. Someone will have to go to the library to check if there are any records of them or some history of the house." He answered, looking at Lin who was already moving to the door. "Mai, go to sleep and rest. I don't want you to act more stupid than normal tomorrow because you're tired." He added and exited the room with Mai's screams following behind him.

* * *

"She's getting stronger." Lin said, watching his young boss standing next to the window and looking through it.

"I noticed." The younger boy answered, not turning back.

"Are you going to do something about it?" Lin asked again, starting up his laptop to add the new information to his documents.

"I'm going to keep a close eye on her. If something happens I will contact my father about it." Naru answered honestly.

It was going to be hard for him to ask anyone for help. However, there was no one who would know more about mediums than his father, who had studied everything about spiritual powers and had a wide knowledge about it. There was a nagging feeling in his heart that there was something more behind Mai's power, especially now, when she was getting stronger. He had missed something from the beginning. But he had run tests on her and they had showed nothing that could point to something more abnormal than he would expect.

He was worried. Worried about the fact that it might be too dangerous and too strong for Mai to deal with. She would end up just like him, constantly worrying that his power could kill one day when the people close to him were in trouble. He knew that his assistant was someone who would easily give her life away if it would save her friends. The problem was, he didn't want to give life away so easily.

* * *

Naru's plans about sending someone to the library to collect additional information were destroyed by the one thing he couldn't control, no matter what his narcissistic ego might say – the weather. There had been a massive storm overnight and the snow and cold made it impossible for anyone to go outside. Cat volunteered to do it since she didn't feel cold to the same extent as the others, but no one was heartless enough to send her out.

In the end they were stuck in the building until the weather improved at least a little.

But it didn't stop Naru from bossing his team around. Takigawa and Ayako were sent to talk with the staff once more, to ask about any stories regarding the family who owned the building. Masako and John got a mission to check the floor where one of the guys had fallen down the stairs. Mai, Cat and Gene were to check the attic since the manager said there was a possibility that some old papers were stored up there.

"I hate attics." Mai mumbled, walking up the stairs.

The other two teens looked at her.

"But why? There's nothing scary about them." Gene told her.

"Only some spiders here and there." Cat added with a smirk.

"And other bugs that like to slide under your shirt."

"And the small light is giving this really mysterious and somehow creepy atmosphere."

"And some ghosts like to sit there when they have nothing better to do."

"Yeah, I heard this story from England that some lady had the ghost of a serial killer in her attic."

"I know this one. It was a terrible sight when he was coming out."

"I think that he killed her two granddaughters before they were able to exorcise him?"

"You're right. It wasn't nice when the police found them."

"Can you two stop it?" Mai interrupted them, turning around and glaring at her companions.

She wanted to run to the base now. Green and blue eyes blinked innocently at her.

"Stop what?" Gene asked.

"We're only making friendly conversation." Cat added, smiling sweetly at Mai.

Mai felt herself sweatdropping.

"Sometimes I just hate you." She mumbled, turning around and continuing up.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you if we come across any ghost in the attic." Gene stated with enthusiasm, matching his steps to her own and putting his arm around her shoulders.

Mai looked at him with a raised brow.

"As if you would be any help in that sort of situation." She said. Seeing as he was a medium just like her he really couldn't protect her in any way from a ghost.

"Of course I can." He said, an evil smirk on his face. "I can always say 'kitty, I choose you' and let Cat out on the ghost."

Mai couldn't stop herself from laughing. There was a moment of silence before the temperature suddenly went up.

"So I look like a Pokémon or something to you?"

* * *

The lone figure was standing in the corner, watching everything from the hidden place. It could feel the love emitting from one girl. It could feel the pain it was giving her. Oh yes, it knew it so well. The decision was made. It had to make sure that the pain was taken away.

* * *

_Edited by: Dark Akuma Hunter, thank you so much. _


	21. The forbidden feeling IV

"Etto… where should we start?" Mai glanced around the attic.

It was a rather large room, with old wardrobes, shelves and other furniture stored inside, everything covered in a thick layer of dust. The lighting was pretty bad so the room was dim, but thankfully it was still light enough for the people there to see everything was in pretty good condition. There was only one small window which creaked and moaned from the wind and falling snow. Mai shuddered and turned her eyes away from an old doll whose empty eyes were looking in her direction. She hated dolls ever since her first proper case with a cursed doll. Their eyes freaked her out.

"Into the attic." Came the oh-so-smart answer from Gene who simply smirked at her glare.

Mai sometimes wondered how the twins could be so different and yet so similar at the same time.

"Thank you for your wisdom, oh wise one." She rolled her eyes and moved further into the room.

"Always at your service, fair maiden."

Mai only shook her head and her eyes landed on a stack of old newspapers lying next to the wall. It was covered in dust, as was everything else. She stepped closer and wiped it from the copy at the top of the pile before picking it up. The pages were yellow marking the passage of time.

"Here are some family records and journals." Cat said, earning her attention.

She was standing next to an old bookshelf, blowing the dust from an old black book.

"And I found some old papers." Mai told her.

"So then ladies, I think it's time to work." Gene said, moving over to take some of the books.

Mai sighed. Sometimes she really hated their job.

* * *

Naru was sitting in their base, reading over the interview notes from the last two days. They didn't really have anything yet, but it was only their first day there. Maybe it was a little drastic, but he hoped that something would happen soon. At least then they would have something to follow, not just two names without a single shred of helpful information.

He looked out the window at the white painted landscape. Usually he liked winter, but when it was interfering with his plans he was ready to freeze the snow with his glare, no matter how weird or irrational it may sound.

He thought about their case. Males attacked with a message written on their bodies. It looked like some sort of jealous ghost, but he had learnt long ago to not judge a book by its cover. Maybe it was some girl who had her heart broken by her lover? He needed more information in order to connect everything. He hoped that his team would find something.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in." He called, leaning forward slightly over his desk and waiting.

The manager of the hotel entered the room, nodding to him.

"You called for me Shibuya-san?" He asked the younger man.

"Yes. Do you know anything about two girls named Toshiko and Rin in the history of this building?" He asked, not being the sort of person to beat around the bushes.

The manager took a place in front of the desk, thinking long and hard about the question.

"Toshiko and Rin?" He repeated, looking up. "I've heard the first name somewhere before…" He admitted, furrowing his brow in thought. After a moment he shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't remember right now. I'll make sure to inform you as soon as I remember."

Naru nodded and after a few more questions he let the man go.

After several hours of reading, coughing and searching, Mai threw away the newspaper she was reading and sighed angrily. They had spent the whole day in the attic, only coming down for dinner. It was already late and it was dark outside.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing, in the papers. She was getting restless. And cold. Why hadn't they taken any blankets with them?

"I take it you didn't find anything useful." She glanced up at Cat, whose green eyes were watching her from above the book she was pretending to read.

"Exactly. No Toshiko or Rin in any of the articles." She answered, shrugging her shoulders.

Cat sighed and straightened her back. She was stiff from sitting for so long in one position.

"What about you Gene?" She asked, looking over at the male who was sitting on the floor reading one of the newspapers.

"Nada." He answered, still reading something, apparently quite absorbed in an article.

"What are you reading?" Mai asked, hoping to have a break.

Gene looked up from his newspaper before answering.

"Did you know that in the Middle Ages when someone had a headache a doctor would make a hole in their head, take out their brain, put salt on it and then put it back in their head?" He asked seriously.

Cat and Mai exchanged glances before looking at him strangely.

"…ok?"

"And the cold was taken care of by putting an onion covered in mustard into a person's nose." He added, looking down at the newspaper again. "And there was this interesting way of treating prisoners with snakes…"

"I don't think it's necessary for you to share that with us." Cat interrupted him, shaking her head in an attempt to get rid of the images forming in her mind.

"Aw but why? It's interesting." Gene smirked at her but she ignored him and grabbed another book.

"Knowing you it will only get weirder." Mai said, laughing at his crestfallen expression.

"You two are so mean, I'm hurt." He said, putting his newspaper aside and taking another one.

"We're trying our best." Cat stated, flicking through the pages.

Gene mumbled something but didn't say anything more and they moved back into their research. There was silence for around five minutes.

"Hey, I have something." Cat said suddenly, looking at a page.

Gene and Mai moved closer, trying to read over her shoulder.

_"… In the year 1815, Hina Toshiko and Shino Karashi, in front of many witnesses and with the blessings of their families, were bound in wedlock."_ Gene read aloud, leaning over the back of the chair.

"You think it's the same Toshiko?" Mai asked, scanning the page but there was nothing more.

"It might be." Cat answered, turning the page. "After all, there was something about marriage in your dream, right?" She looked over at Mai who nodded.

"In that case we have another name." Gene pointed out. "Shino Karashi."

Mai opened her mouth to say something but stopped. Both she and Gene stiffened, looking around in alarm. Cat, sensing the change in their mood, looked up at both of them.

"What's going on?"

Mai and Gene glanced at each other.

"We should be…" Gene started, but was interrupted by a sudden wave of cold air which knocked over the stack of newspapers and scattered them across the floor by the teens.

Cat shot up from her chair and followed the other two who were already moving towards the attic door. However before they reached it the door slammed shut, trapping them inside.

* * *

Lin checked the time as he observed the monitors. It was almost midnight. The day itself had been calm and quiet. The only noise in the room consisted of Ayako and Takigawa arguing and Masako talking. The rest of the team were still in the attic and Lin was considering getting them to call it a day. Naru was sitting in a chair reading a book.

"Naru, we should call Gene, Taniyama-san and Hyuga-san back." He conveyed his thoughts to the boy, who blinked at him.

"They're still in the attic?" He asked, putting his book down. He sighed. "I knew that Mai was stupid, but I never thought that my brother and Hyuga-san could reach her level." He added, standing up.

Lin almost smiled. He just loved the way Naru expressed his worry.

"You're going to get them then?" He asked, seeing as the younger boy was heading to the door.

"Yes, watch the monitors and call me if anything changes." He said.

He had his hand on the doorknob when one of the monitors beeped. He froze and turned around to Lin, who quickly scanned the screens. He suddenly shot up in his chair.

_'Don't tell me it's…'_ Naru thought before Lin said "The temperature just dropped drastically in the attic."

Wondering if Mai was seriously born under a bad luck star the dark haired boy ran out of the room.

* * *

As the three teenagers stood in the attic their breath began clouding up the air in front of them. Mai's teeth started chattering. Cat glanced at her and slightly increased her temperature, wanting to provide some heat, when Gene's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Don't lose your energy. If something comes out, you're our only defence." He said, looking around. She nodded her head.

He knew that something was there. The presence was so easy to read that he could feel it on his skin. He knew that Mai could feel it too.

Suddenly, one of the chairs behind them screeched and moved. Mai grabbed Cat's hand as she was the one closest to her. The girl squeezed her hand while she herself fought back her fear. The story she and Gene had told the other girl earlier came back to her. She made a mental note to never try and scare Mai again in her life.

_"… the name…"_ They could all hear the voice coming from somewhere around the old bookshelf.

They turned around. Narrowing their eyes all of them were able to see something in the shadows. A light dress was visible, but the face stayed hidden in the darkness.

Gene shivered, feeling all the anger, jealousy and hatred coming from the ghost.

_"Don't you dare ever say that name again."_

This time the voice was clearer and louder, and with it came a forceful wave of air which pushed them back. Strangely it separated Gene from the girls. He winced when his back hit the cold floor. He looked around for Mai and Cat. They were both on the floor across from him. He was about to stand up and move to them when something suddenly materialised in front of him.

His eyes widened when he heard a voice hissing something in his ear, and something sharp piercing the skin on his chest.

Before the ghost could do any more a wave of hot air hit it straight in the back. With a loud scream it disappeared.

"Gene!" Mai shouted and moved over to him as Cat looked around, her hand still glowing slightly. She wasn't sure if they were safe yet.

"I'm fine." The boy said, and brown and green eyes rested on him. He put a hand to his chest, feeling something warm. It looked as though the ghost had tried to cut him with a knife or something.

"You sure?" Cat asked and he nodded.

"She isn't here anymore, by the way." He added, and the girl released her power.

"You're bleeding!" Mai exclaimed, putting her hand on his chest to examine the damage.

Cat moved to him and Mai, narrowly avoiding being hit by the door when Lin and Naru ran into the room. They looked at them and Naru's eyes narrowed as he saw the position his brother and assistant were in.

Gene almost sweatdropped.

_'Jealous ghosts and younger brothers… What did I ever do to anyone?'_ He thought.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks again to my beta, Dark Akuma Hunter. _

_I also wanted to thank to everyone who reviewed. There's over 100 reviews now, and I'm rather proud. Reading what you think about this story really encourages me to write more. )_


	22. The forbidden feeling V

The atmosphere in the base was still and tense after they arrived back from the attic. Naru spent most of the time glaring at his brother, for reasons unknown to Mai, while Gene was re-telling what had happened in the attic to the rest of the team. Ayako checked his wound which, fortunately, wasn't serious. It bled a lot and hurt, but in the end all it had needed was to be disinfected and bandaged. Mai, like always, was told to go and make tea for her boss. Cat decided to accompany her, just in case something happened.

"The ghost is acting quite quickly." John commented once Gene had finished talking.

"It was to be expected. It looks like it has chosen its next victim." Ayako said, finishing her treatment and allowing Gene to put his shirt back on, him wincing as he did so.

"Still, from what it said, the main interest is Mai. Again." He commented, remembering the words.

'_There is no forgiveness for a man who hurts a woman. Your Mai is going to see what kind of man you really are, traitor.'_

As to why the ghost had decided to attack him, it was still a mystery.

"Still, its actions seem to have been triggered by the name Shino Karashi." A female voice ventured as Cat and Mai came back into the room with steaming cups of tea.

Everyone looked at them and the green eyed girl continued explaining her thoughts.

"It appeared after Gene said that name, and the ghost didn't look very happy about hearing it. Still, I think that it – the woman – was there from the beginning as she reacted rather quickly."

Naru thought about it for a moment, twirling his pen around. He had made similar observations, but there was one thing which didn't seem to fit into the puzzle.

"It still doesn't explain why two mediums couldn't feel its presence." He pointed out.

It was strange to say the least. He knew that both Mai and Gene were strong, so feeling the ghost shouldn't be hard for them. Cat fell silent, thinking about it as she helped Mai place the cups on the small table.

"If Gene wasn't able to feel it then there is no possibility that the ghost could have been present before it showed itself." Masako stated her own opinion, covering her mouth with her sleeve. She wasn't very happy about being woken from her dream when Naru had decided to hold a meeting. Still, she didn't have it in her to refuse him.

Cat furrowed her brows, sitting next to the dark haired medium where there was a free seat. It left Mai with only one viable seating option, next to her boss.

"It's not impossible." The tsukaite said finally, taking the hot cup in her hands.

"What do you mean?" Nasu asked when the girl fell silent again, trying to remember something.

"When there is something blocking the spiritual presence of a ghost there is the possibility that a medium, even one of the best, will miss it." She explained.

Gene smirked at that and looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Did you just say that I'm one of the best mediums?"

Cat glared at him.

"I was talking about Mai, you're just the background." She answered, and he put his hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt.

Mai smiled slightly as she watched them. The two teens were funny when they argued.

"I'm touched by your compliment." She said, and the other girl smirked at her.

Naru sighed under his breath. His subordinates were getting more incompetent every day.

"Now if we can get back to the subject as hand." He said, making them all fall silent. No-one wanted to anger him, especially since he was already irritated. "I would assume that you are talking about the fact that the ghost is possessing some kind of object."

"It can stop the medium from feeling the ghost?" Mai asked, looking at him.

"The object the ghost uses is acting as a hideout, it I have to put it simply for you." She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance and he felt his irritation slowly fading away. "The thing is blocking its spiritual power so that no-one should be able to discover it."

"But only when the person whose ghost is possessing the object chose it." Cat said suddenly.

Naru turned to face her, his question clearly obvious without him even needing to voice it. Gene, Mai, John, Takigawa, Ayako and Lin also looked at the girl curiously, while Masako reluctantly turned her attention to Cat.

"I mean, if someone was cursed and forced to possess the object the soul usually tries to break free from it by alarming living people with its presence, it doesn't try to hide. In doing that the soul can be exorcised and rest in peace. The case is different though when the person, while still alive, decides to conjure his soul into the object. There can be many different reasons: anger, venom, love, unsatisfied desire; anything that is connected with an emotion strong enough to push one to do something like that. Then, the ghost doesn't want to be discovered until it reaches its goal. Again, that can be anything." She recited everything she could remember.

Some of the people present in the room seemed slightly surprised by her knowledge, especially the dark haired girl, but she kept her thoughts to herself, at least for the time being.

"So are you saying that this ghost is like a mouse, hiding itself in its hole, not wanting us to find it?" Takigawa asked, to make sure he understood what she meant.

"That makes sense." Lin commented, while noting everything. "It would explain why neither Gene nor Taniyama-san sensed it."

"We still don't know if that's the case." Naru answered, thinking. It made sense, but they couldn't just base their future actions on rumours and suspicions. They needed more information, especially about the possible culprits. "But we also can't dismiss this idea. Was there anything in the attic that caught your attention or raised suspicion?" He asked the three teens who had been up there.

Gene, Mai and Cat exchanged glances, but nothing came to their minds. They shook their heads and Naru nodded. The room should be investigated carefully the next day and he was going to be a part of it.

"We should continue this in the morning." He said, catching the sight of a yawning Mai in the corner of his eye. It was almost one in the morning.

Everybody moved gratefully to the door, wanting to go to bed.

"Oh, and Mai?"

The girl in question stopped, looking at her boss questioningly.

"Move your stuff from your room." He said calmly, reading his notes.

Mai blinked at him in confusion.

"You are sharing with me now."

There was a moment of silence.

"WHAT?" The girl shouted, not caring the slightest bit that it was the middle of the night.

"You heard me, you are sleeping in my room now. And don't use your lungs so much, we all know that you can scream loudly."

Mai tried to protest, blushing furiously, but it was all in vain. When Naru set his mind on something there was no way out of it.

'_What about me then?'_ Gene asked him in his mind, smirking at Mai's behaviour. It was a great opportunity for his stubborn brother to finally do his job right.

'_You are moving into her old room.'_ Naru answered, before closing their link.

Gene blinked at him. He wouldn't have minded sharing a room with Cat or even Ayako, but Masako was a slightly different case. He was aware of her feelings towards his brother and the way she was so nice and ingratiating to him crept him out a little.

* * *

Mai sat on her new bed, fidgeting nervously. Naru was in the bathroom taking a shower, so she had been left alone. She still wondered why he made the decision, it had surprised her. But now, she didn't know what to do. Sharing a room with a boy, especially her boss was, in her terms, intimate and a little uncomfortable. She had never done it before in her life. The time when she was sharing a room with her teacher's son was different, because they were treating each other like siblings.

Not that she wasn't happy with the current arrangement. Every girl would love to sleep in a room with the love of their life, however she was afraid of making an idiot of herself, again, or saying something she shouldn't say. With her it was highly possible, after all she had that stupid habit of saying rubbish when she was nervous. Right now she would really have liked to have Cat or Ayako around to ask them for something.

When her phone vibrated, signalling that she had a new message, she furrowed her brows slightly. No-one wrote to her when she was working. She glanced at the screen and was slightly surprised to see that is was a message from Cat.

'_How are things? I hope you're finally doing something improper, it's taken you too long.'_

Mai blushed as she read it. Somehow it didn't seem like something her friend would say. With a red face she thought of how to respond when another message came through.

'_Ignore the previous text. The moronic idiot who is my new roommate snatched my phone. Have a good night.'_

Mai decided to kill Gene tomorrow. That guy never knew when to stop teasing. Or maybe she wouldn't, she decided with a smirk. She was sure Cat would punish him enough for both of them.

"What are you smiling at?" A voice asked suddenly, startling her.

She almost dropped her phone but miraculously managed to keep hold of it.

"Naru! Don't scare me like that." She said, turning to the boy who had just come out of the bathroom.

She tried not to blush at the sight of her boss fresh from the shower. She was glad that he was wearing a complete set of pyjamas.

"If you paid attention to your surroundings you wouldn't be surprised." He said and walked over to her from his bed which was right next to hers.

"It's not my fault that you silently creep up on people." Mai mumbled, feeling irritated that he was making her feel stupid again.

Naru almost rolled his eyes.

"What were you smiling at?" He asked again, no longer wishing to discuss how he walked.

Mai blushed slightly, remembering what Gene had sent her. She decided to kill him anyway. Seeing her expression Naru raised an eyebrow. When his eyes landed on the phone in her hand he felt extremely curious as to what she had read. So he did what he was thinking of doing. And that was snatching her phone from her hand.

Mai blinked, looking at her empty hand before shooting up from her bed.

"Naru, give it back!" She tried to get her phone, however he held it above her head so she couldn't reach it, even on her tip-toes.

He was silent as he read the first message, fighting back his blush. The fact that Mai was almost glued to his side trying to get her phone back didn't help the images the message put in his head. After reading the second one he opened up a blank message.

'_Hyuga-san, please tell my brother that he should follow his own advice if he has nothing to do.'_

He was sure that Gene would understand his message.

He was actually going to give Mai her phone back when something unexpected happened. Mai, being Mai, tripped over while standing on her tip-toes. Trying to keep her balance she grabbed his shirt, but that only caused them both to fall, landing on the bed. The phone fell to the ground, forgotten for the time being.

Mai was lying on her boss, who had his arms around her, where he put them automatically during the fall. She had her head on his chest where it had landed. She gulped. It was the second time they had landed in such a position. Hesitantly she raised her head to look straight into slightly surprised blue eyes. At least this time it was her who was on top, but she was too nervous and occupied with watching his face to notice it.

Naru looked at her, wondering how it had happened. His eyes unwillingly travelled to her lips, which were very close. If he tilted his head a little they would kiss. It was a very tempting idea and he was very close to letting his desires overtake him. He raised his head, shortening the distance between them.

Suddenly the lights went out. Darkness enveloped them, stopping him.

* * *

When her phone vibrated the irritated Cat picked it up, still glaring daggers at the smiling brunet, who was sitting on the bed next to her. It was just her luck that he had to occupy Mai's bed. It looked like he didn't even care about the lump that was forming on his head.

She read the new message and her eyebrows shot up.

"Your brother messaged you." She said, holding the phone in front of Gene but not giving it to him. No-one knew what the idiot would do.

He read it and blushed slightly. He tried to get the phone from Cat, but she was faster.

"You're not getting it."

"Don't be like that. I promise I won't write anything inappropriate."

"Why don't you use your own phone?"

"Because using yours is more fun."

"I will hurt you."

"Can you shut up? Some of us are trying to sleep here." Ayako interrupted them from her bed on the opposite side of the room.

Both of them apologised and Cat climbed into her bed. She was about to close her eyes when she was interrupted again.

"Cat?" Gene whispered, not able to stop himself irritating the girl more. The desire was stronger than he was.

"What?" She groaned. She was tired from using her powers and she wanted to sleep.

"You know, I often have nightmares." He continued.

"What about it?" She asked impatiently.

"Can I sleep with you?"

There was a moment of silence before a loud cry of "Baka!" filled the room, followed by a pillow straight to his face.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks again to my beta, Dark Akuma Hunter, and everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I also want to thanks Melonie Asazuki Davis for the idea with the blackout._

_Please, review this one also ^^_


	23. The forbidden feeling VI

_A/N: So, again, as always, big thanks for my beta, Dark Akuma Hunter. _

* * *

Mai was lying on her boss, not moving a muscle. For one short, beautiful moment she thought he was going to kiss her. His blue eyes were getting closer and closer to her brown ones and she could feel his minty breath on her face, but as quickly as it begun the moment was ruined as the lights cut out, leaving them in complete darkness.

She swore to God that if it was the work of a ghost she would exorcise is herself.

When a sudden sense of fear overwhelmed her she tightened her grip on Naru's shirt. They were in the middle of a case after all, so the possibility of it being caused by ghosts was high. She really didn't want to be attacked right now. It would mean that Naru would have to save her, and she didn't want him to use his powers. It was too dangerous, and she hated seeing him hurt. If it was because of her she knew she would feel even worse about it.

"W-what's going on?" She whispered, trying to see anything through the darkness, but she couldn't make anything out. She could barely even see those lovely blue eyes and they were so very close to each other.

"The lights went out." Came the calm answer from the teen beneath her.

She felt her irritation rising swiftly.

"I can see that, you jerk." She mumbled, but Naru heard it anyway.

"Then what did you ask for?" He asked again, actually happy for the darkness.

He was well aware of what he had been about to do. If it they hadn't been interrupted he would by lying down, kissing the daylights out of his assistant. He wasn't sure whether to be happy about it, since he didn't want to make an idiot out of himself, or to be cursing his luck, since somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he truly wanted to do it.

His mind was rooting for the first option, while he heart had a different idea.

"What I want to know is why the lights went out." Mai revised her question. "I mean…. There a-aren't any ghosts here, right?" She asked, and Naru felt her unconsciously pressing closer to him.

"I'm not the medium here." He said a little harshly, not intending on it coming out like that. "You tell me if there's a ghost around here."

Mai blushed slightly, knowing that he had a valid point.

Before she had the chance to tell him that no, she couldn't feel the presence of a ghost, there was a loud bang - a sound akin to something falling - followed by knocking. She shrieked, frightened out of her skin, and threw her arms around Naru's neck, an impressive feat considering they were both still lying down.

"Mai, let go of me." He instructed, but the girl only shook her head, burying her face in his arm. He let out a sigh. "Someone's out there and I have to answer the door. You're too heavy for me to carry you there, so please get off me."

Mai momentarily forgot her fear as his comment about her weight sunk in, leaving her furious. That jerk, always saying cruel things to her when she was frightened. Taking advantage of her distraction Naru slipped out from under her, but before he was able to move away from the bed a small, warm hand grabbed his own, stopping him once again. The knock repeated itself, more urgently this time.

"Please don't leave me alone." Mai's whisper reached his ears and he sighed.

Without waiting for her to say anything else he gripped her hand, pulling her to her feet.

"Don't you dare trip on anything this time." He warned her before making his way to the door, the path burned into his mind.

Mai walked close behind him, peering over his shoulder when he opened the door. To her relief there were no ghosts, only the dimly lit figure of the hotel manager.

"Sorry for the intrusion, but the weather seems to have damaged the power lines. Unfortunately this means there won't be any electricity until someone can get over here to fix it." The man informed them in an apologetic voice. "Seeing as you have so much equipment I decided I should inform you straight away. There are candles in the drawers next to the bed if you want any light." He explained.

Naru nodded and closed the door after wishing the man goodnight, his mind already going through all the problems this would cause.

Without his equipment the case was going to be that much harder to deal with. Everything was connected to the computers, the cameras and microphones. For now they would be reduced to monitoring room temperatures and relying on their three mediums. He knew all of them were good enough sources, but it meant that he couldn't go about things the way he usually liked to. Usually he knew everything that was happening, even when he was sitting in the base, thanks to the monitors. Now, not only would he be prevented from making recordings, but he would be forced to investigate everything the old-fashioned way like the rest of the team did. Oh joy.

Hiding a sigh he turned back towards the beds, his head down in thought, already planning what to do next. He forgot about how close Mai was.

Before he could do anything his lips touched something very soft, something that felt like another pair of lips, and a surprised gasp reached his ears.

* * *

The next day everyone gathered in the base, yawning and rubbing sleep from their eyes. Everyone, that is, except for Naru and Mai. The former was sitting down wearing a frown much deeper than normal, while the latter was blushing furiously, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Cat raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Gene, wondering what had happened between the two. Mai was usually the first to greet everyone; if she was awake anyway.

"As you should know by now we are currently experiencing a blackout. This means that we couldn't get any footage last night." Naru started as soon as everyone else was situated somewhere in the room. "Mai, Hyuga-san, Gene and I will check room temperatures and the attic. Matsuzaki, John, Takigawa and Haru-san should check the hotel again and exorcise anything you come across."

The team nodded in agreement, sensing that he wasn't in any sort of mood to listen to any complaints. Neither Cat nor Gene wanted to spend another minute going through papers in the attic, however they certainly weren't suicidal. They watched in amusement as Mai's cheeks burned brighter when Naru named the groups.

Masako bravely opened her mouth to say something about the groups. Takigawa, sensing the impending danger that would follow if she were allowed to speak, grabbed her unceremoniously and almost dragged her from the base.

"It's time to work! The sooner we finish the sooner we can rest." They could hear his happy-go-lucky voice from down the hallway before Ayako and John decided to follow them.

"I think we should go too." Mai stood up from where she had been sitting and moved towards the doors.

Gene gaped at her.

Cat blinked.

Lin stopped typing.

Naru's frown deepened.

When Mai decided she wanted to investigate a haunted house by her own free will without being pushed into it by her narcissistic boss it meant something was wrong.

"Mai, are you…" Cat started, only to be stopped by a tug on her arm.

"We should start with the kitchen." Mai continued, acting as though Cat hadn't said a word, dragging the girl from the room in a way akin to what Takigawa had just done with Masako.

Cat allowed the girl to drag her for a few steps, but came back to her senses when they reached the lobby. Pulling her arm from her friend's grasp she massaged the abused area and sent Mai a curious look.

"What happened?"

Mai looked away.

"Nothing."

Cat's eyebrow shot up.

"Yeah right. Who do you think you're kidding? You're blushing like you've just snogged the love of your life." She said without thinking.

Mai's reaction was so hilarious that Cat would forever regret not having a camera on her person at that moment. Her face turned so red one almost expected steam to pour out her ears. Her head snapped in Cat's direction so quickly it was as if she was possessed by something. Mai tried to deny it, but she couldn't force coherent words out of her mouth and eventually gave up, tripping over her own feet and ending up on the lobby floor.

Cat could only gape at her fallen friend, not really knowing what had happened or what to do about it. Then it dawned on her.

"Don't tell me that you…"

"Excuse me."

Both girls turned towards the new voice. They were surprised to see a group of teenagers, red-faced from the cold and covered in snow, standing next to them with their luggage. Seeing their frozen hands and faces Mai shuddered involuntarily.

"Do you by any chance know where the owner is?" A tall green eyed boy asked. His hair was hidden beneath his cap so neither girl could really make out much of his appearance. "We just arrived and were hoping to book some rooms."

Cat shook her head in response.

"We haven't seen him…"

"Oh there you are! I wasn't sure if you'd make it because of the weather." Mr Yosuko's voice echoed through the lobby as the man himself stepped through from the kitchen.

"We weren't sure either, the road was terrible." The boy answered, turning his attention to the older man.

"I'm sure it was. If you'll wait a moment I'll get your keys and find someone to move your bags."

Cat glanced at Mai who was still watching everything from her new seat on the ground. Upon closer inspection the new group consisted of five people, two girls and three guys, all around their age. The boy who spoke before turned his attention back to them, smiling.

"I hardly think that's a comfortable place to be sitting." He stated, holding out his hand to help Mai up. "Are you two staying here as well?" He asked.

Before either girl could answer or Mai could take the offered hand two hands gripped her under the shoulders and hauled her to her feet.

"I don't see any reason why they would be here if they weren't." Naru said, helping Mai to her feet and looking at the new arrivals with cold eyes.

The twins had finally arrived on the scene. There was a moment of surprised silence from the group. Mai turned around to face him, forgetting her earlier embarrassment.

"You could be a little nicer, jerk!" She snapped.

Their proximity however reminded her of the events of the previous night and she looked away again, face bright red.

Cat nearly suffocated trying not to laugh when she saw Naru blushing too, but decided not to risk letting it out when her new boss sent a cold warning glare in her direction. Gene raised an eyebrow questioningly. He had tried to probe his brother about what had happened, however the scientist was being more stubborn than usual.

"Well it looks like we won't be bored here." One of the new girls said, smiling sweetly at the twins. "I do hope that we all get along."

Mai wanted to gag at the girl's sweet voice, but she couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. It looked like even out here the girls would still flock to the twins.

"We should be going now." Naru said, already pushing his assistant along in front of him.

Gene simply shook his head at his brother's behaviour. Really, he couldn't have been any more obvious with his jealousy.

* * *

Mai stared at the paper in front of her, fighting the urge to tear it to pieces. Or asking Cat to burn to get rid of it. She wasn't sure how long they had been in the attic, but she had definitely had enough. She was cold and bored, not to mention she was still pissed at Naru about his comment. Seriously, that jerk couldn't just leave her alone for a moment. Not that she really wanted to be left alone, but his constant picking on her was making her angry. Especially after the kiss the night before… She buried her face in the paper to hide her blush.

Cat closed the book in front of her with a sigh. It was almost as if everything mentioning Toshiko or Rin had disappeared. There was only the page they had found the other day. It was getting more and more frustrating. She stood up, stretching, and moved to take yet another book from the pile. She was walking passed the wardrobe when something caught her eye.

"If it wasn't for the note yesterday I would seriously believe those girls were just figments of Mai's imagination." Gene said, closing a newspaper and reaching for another one. "I'm getting fed up with all this reading."

"Reading has never killed anyone before Gene, so stop complaining." Naru said calmly, turning the page and not even glancing up from his book.

His older brother simply glanced at him.

"You know, according to Japanese culture you should call me 'Nii-san' or 'Nii-chan'." He said randomly.

Mai stifled a fit of giggles as she tried to imagine Naru calling anyone 'Nii-chan'. For some reason it didn't fit his image at all.

Naru looked up from his book.

"According to Japanese culture only the older brother is supposed to be called that." He answered.

"But I am your older brother." Gene blinked at him.

"Mentally you're still years behind me. I'm still supporting the idea that there was a mistake on our birth certificates." Was his calm response.

Mai couldn't stop herself from giggling, but she froze when she felt something. Gene's expression was also one of alarm as he looked around. Something was happening. Something bad.

"What's going on?" Naru asked sharply, looking between the two.

"It's here, but it's not midnight yet." Gene answered, standing up and moving towards the wardrobe where Cat was still standing.

Naru moved as well, standing next to Mai. He looked around the room but could find nothing out of the ordinary. When a noise from the other side of the room caught their attention they all turned around, but saw nothing.

Naru frowned. Something was wrong. He looked around again and his eyes widened in shock.

_'Gene, get down!'_

Hearing his brother's voice in his head the other teen bent instinctively, narrowly missing a thick book which had been aimed directly at his head. Mai gasped in surprise and terror and he quickly turned around.

Cat was standing over him, book in one hand. Her expression was cold and venomous, her brown eyes filled with hate as she watched him.

Gene's eyes widened in shock when the fact that Cat's eyes were green finally registered in his mind.


	24. The forbidden feeling VII

Foreign and unfamiliar brown eyes stared straight into blue ones.

It wasn't often that Gene didn't know what to do or say, but this situation definitely had him stumped. His common sense told him to move as far away from the possessed Cat as he could, especially when she raised the book over her head once more with the sole purpose of slamming it against his head with all her strength. Seriously, what the hell had he done to annoy anyone? Everything seemed to be working against him and he definitely didn't like it. Now he knew what Mai had to feel like every time an angry ghost was after her. He felt for her, more than ever.

On his side, Naru was analysing the situation as quickly as he could. He knew that they didn't have much time to spare and that the situation was likely to get worse. Seeing as the possessed girl had a slim frame he and Gene could easily overpower her, but he knew from experience that possessed people were usually stronger than anyone would suspect. He remembered one case, when they had been working with their father, where a small girl threw a grown man across the room. He could only pray that the ghost wouldn't be able to take control of Cat's power. Maybe when it came to strength her powers were weaker than his own, but she had the advantage of staying fully conscious after using them (and, of course, the advantage of the supernatural strength of the ghost possessing her). Seeing the girl raising her weapon again, he decided to act quickly.

"Mai, stay here. Don't move an inch." He ordered his assistant, who was standing behind him, and she nodded meekly, watching everything with wide eyes.

Gene only had seconds to spare when the heavy tome smacked into the ground where his head had been only a moment earlier.

"Our Kitty has gone wild." He commented under his breath and brown eyes looked at him in confusion.

So for the time being Cat was completely lost to the world. He knew (due to some painful experiences – he still had a bruise to prove it) without a doubt, that if anything were to trigger her consciousness it would be the nickname she hated so much. However, the person before him obviously had no idea what he was talking about. It didn't make him feel any better. That meant he had absolutely no way of contacting the green-eyed girl. He moved back a few steps and the girl followed. That was what Naru needed. He darted behind the possessed girl and, when she raised the book again, smacked her hard on the wrist, causing her to gasp in pain and let go of the book. Exactly as he'd planned it. What his plan failed to incorporate was the possibility of the girl turning to him with extraordinary speed. Reflexively he took a step back and her fist met the side of his lips. Mai gasped, covering her mouth. However, before Cat could do anything else, a hand fell on her neck and pressed down on one of her pressure points. She stammered and passed out, falling back into Gene who stood behind her.

The older twin glanced at his brother as Mai edged closer to them, worriedly eyeing the unconscious girl. She looked so innocent and calm that she almost couldn't believe that just a moment before she had attacked Gene and hit Naru. But the presence was clearly emitting from her. She was still possessed.

"Are you alright?" She asked, looking to Gene who nodded and then at Naru, who was holding his lip. Seeing her worried glance he nodded, not wanting to give her anything more to worry about.

"We need to move Hyuga-san downstairs. Lin will need to put a barrier around her while John performs an exorcism." He said, moving in the direction of the door that led from the attic.

"A barrier?" Mai echoed, slightly confused.

Naru nodded. Gene hoisted the unconscious girl in his arms and followed his brother. He only hoped that she would stay asleep.

"Just in case she wakes up before John finishes. If the ghost manages to get control of her powers we'd be in a bit of trouble." He explained.

Mai thought about it for a moment before a light bulb went off in her head.

"Just like the one he put around you when you were possessed." She said, looking to her boss to see if she was right. She received a nod in response.

'_You know, I think that's a first.'_ Gene pointed out telepathically as they were walking down the corridor.

'_What are you talking about?'_

'_A girl gave you a bloody lip. That's something to talk about.'_ The humour was easily heard in Gene's voice.

Naru felt a headache coming on. He knew that Gene would never let him live it down.

'_Tell anyone about it and I will kill you.'_ Was his only answer.

When Gene chuckled Mai looked at him in surprise, not seeing anything remotely funny about their current situation. In fact it was quite the opposite. Seeing her questioning look Gene simply grinned, adjusting Cat in his arms.

"What happened to you?" Ayako's scream greeted them when they entered the base.

Masako suddenly sat up straight, her eyes travelling over the group.

She simply said "She's with you" as she looked at the unconscious girl in Gene's arms. "She's stronger than we thought. Being able to possess people with high levels of spiritual power is not easily accomplishable."

Lin looked up from his notes. Upon seeing the irritated and bloody-lipped Naru, a worried Mai, an unconscious Cat and a slightly amused Gene he could only guess what had happened. Well, Gene's amusement was something he didn't understand, but the boy was amused by most of the things his brother did, so he let it slide.

"We need a barrier." Naru said to him. "John, get ready to perform an exorcism." He glanced at the young priest who nodded and ran from the room.

"She knows about Hyuga-san's powers?" Lin asked, standing up.

"Probably not, she hasn't taken advantage of them." Naru answered.

"Indeed, she did a pretty good job with her fists." Gene said, moving towards the sofa in order to lay the girl down. Lin was already there, the barrier talismans in hand, with Takigawa next to him, just in case anything went wrong.

His statement earned him a few interested looks and one very irritated one.

"What happened there?" Lin asked when everything was ready and they were waiting for John to come back.

Gene happily filled the Chinese man in on what had occurred, not leaving out the part about Cat hitting Naru – having forgotten about his younger brother's threat. Naru's glare would have caused Hell to freeze over, but it went ignored by the speaker.

Lin often wondered if the older twin had a death wish. Perhaps one near-death experience just wasn't enough for the teen.

"Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name…"

Mai was watching from the side of the room while John performed his exorcism. He was in the middle of it when Cat's eyes suddenly snapped open, still the unnatural brown of her possessor. The ghost in her body looked around for a moment, confused as to where she was and what was going on.

"Continue." Naru ordered when the young priest paused in his chanting.

John glanced at him and quickly resumed his prayers, turning his attention back to the task at hand. The possessed girl tried to move, to stand up and put every human in the room in their rightful places, but as soon as she lifted her body from the couch something pulled her back. She wasn't able to move. She tried to free herself but found herself incapable of it. She glared at the priest, who simply increased the speed of his prayers in return. Just before his holy water sprayed on her face her eyes fell upon something. She grinned evilly.

The feelings the blue-eyed girl held within her were perfect for her task. There was so much jealousy, so much hatred, so much anger. Everything she needed was right there. Bu this time, she was going to work slowly. She had a plan.

Mai glanced over to her right, where her boss was sitting, quietly reading something. They were in the attic once more, but this time they were alone. They hadn't spoken a word to each other since leaving the base. Cat was still unconscious, but the mediums were certain that the ghost had left her. Now they had to wait and see if and where she would strike again and who the victim ends up being. Seeing as she appeared to be interested in Gene for the time being, they had decided to keep him in the base at all times, with Lin to protect him.

"Nothing here…" Mai murmured to herself, putting aside yet another volume of the family chronicles.

Naru glanced up from his page to look at his assistant for a moment, but he didn't say anything. Being the genius he was, he knew that they would have to talk about what happened last night, because they hadn't spoken about it since Mai had locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out. But, being the dense genius that he was, he decided to do it after the case, when they had more time. Seemed like a good plan.

Mai took a new book from the pile in front of her when something fell out.

"Huh?" She blinked, surprised, watching the old, yellowed envelope with a single name written on it.

Toshiko.

Naru moved to her side when she opened the envelope and started reading it over her shoulder.

_My dear friend,_

_From the first day we met you have been the most important person in my life. You were everything to me, the reason that I kept moving forward, and I am aware that you deserve only the best. Nothing less. You, however, cannot seem to see it._

_He does not deserve you! None of the beasts called men deserve you! They are too shabby, too hypocritical for you, if only you would notice it,_

_He is lying to you. I have seen him many times now sneaking from his room to the maids' quarters. I am sure that I do not need to describe for you what they were doing in there._

_I know that my words are going to hurt you. The perfect image of your husband that you held so dearly in your heart will have been destroyed. However, it is the truth and you must face it._

_I promise, I will always be there to protect you, no matter what or how._

_Rin._

* * *

_**A/N:**_Sorry again for the break. I can't promise, that it won't happen again, since I have a load of exams and work in front of me. But please, bear with tired and insomniac writer ^^"_  
_

_edited: _Dark Akuma Hunter :D


	25. The forbidden feelling VIII

_**A/N: **Just few words from the author, since I'm too tired to write something more creative ^^"_

_Thanks again to Dark Akuma Hunter, who spent her time on making this chapter readable. And thanks to all readers, who left reviews. And also thanks to the people who haven't posted anything. It's still good to know that so many of you read my story ^^_

* * *

Two days passed by without any unusual occurrences. It seemed as though the ghost had decided to take a break from terrorising them after possessing Cat, which was both good news and bad at the same time. Good, because they didn't have to worry about anyone getting hurt, and bad, because they had yet to dig up anything new other than the letter Mai and Naru had discovered the previous day.

In some ways, Mai was beginning to get some sort of idea about what was going on with their ghost. They had deducted that the girl – Rin – was overprotective of, over even in love with – as Gene suggested – her friend. Still, they had no clue as to what had happened to chain her spirit to the earth and caused her to become so angry. Case-wise, they had yet to make any significant improvement.

Mai was still staying in Naru's room, trying as hard as possible not to think about the kiss more than necessary. It was difficult though, because every single time she looked at him her eyes would travel down to his lips and her thoughts would be overwhelmed with the memory of how good they felt on her own. To try and maintain some form of mental stability she wanted to return to her original, as she had no such romantic urges towards Cat, but she knew that asking Naru to let her was futile. Hence she decided to bear with it. She didn't know, however, that Naru was facing the same problem. Memories of the kiss would plague him at the most unexpected and inopportune moments. It was good, for him, that he had a strong personality and will or else Mai would likely be filing a paper for sexual harassment against her boss. He was just so oblivious…

And so Gene continued to stay in the girls' room. That was the reason Cat found herself being poked in the shoulder in the middle of the night.

"What the hell do you want Gene?" She groaned, wanting nothing more to do with the boy.

The poking didn't stop.

"How did you know it was me?" He asked, looking at her closed eyes. There was a broad grin plastered across his face, irritating her was his new favourite activity. Even if he had to be awake at ridiculous hours in order to do it.

Cat groaned and rolled onto her back as she opened her eyes to glare at him as he hovered over her.

"Because no one else if stupid enough to wake me up in the middle of the night." She answered, shoving him away slightly. "Back to my original question: what do you want?"

"Hot chocolate."

Green eyes blinked up at him, one brow raised in question.

"Excuse me?"

"Come with me to the kitchen to get some hot chocolate." He explained, watching her with expectant eyes.

Cat opened her mouth and closed it again. She wondered how old Gene really was.

"You woke me up at…" she glanced up at the clock on the bedside table, "2 in the freaking morning just to get some hot chocolate." She stated incredulously, eyeing him cautiously. Maybe they should take him to a doctor once the mission was over.

"It tastes best late at night."

She stared at him for a moment before turning her back to him and pulling the covers back over her head.

"No."

The poking started again.

"Come on, you know you want to. And besides, I can't go alone, Naru would have my head if I did. Come on Cat, don't be a party pooper."

Cat groaned when his voice reached her ears and the poking refused to stop.

"If I go with you will you let me sleep?" She mumbled from under the covers. It was so very comfortable lying in bed.

"Yep." Came his reply and she sighed, standing up.

She glared at him briefly before looking around for something to wear on top of her pyjamas only to have a mass of dark cloth thrown at her.

"Wear this and come."

Cat raised an eyebrow, moving Gene's shirt from where it had landed on her head and watching as he moved towards the door. He really did seem to be craving chocolate. She put his shirt on, enjoying the extra warmth it provided, and walked after him.

They had to go down to the first floor to get to the kitchen. Cat had to admit to herself that at night the hotel certainly gave off a spooky atmosphere. Dark shadows mixed with the loud wind that echoed around the building simply served to add to the feeling. Right now, the building felt like something out of some western horror movie.

She glanced through one of the windows and paused, furrowing her brows in thought. Gene was several metres further down the hallway when he noticed that she wasn't with him anymore.

"What's wrong?" He asked, noting her concentration.

"There's something…" the girl started before her eyes widened in sudden realisation. "Shit!"

Without another word she dashed down the stairs, running in the direction of the main doors. Gene blinked in surprise but had no option other than to follow her. He knew that she wasn't about to answer any of his questions.

"Cat!" He shouted when the girl bolted through the doors out into the freezing air. She didn't stop running, cutting a sharp left across the grounds.

'_Naru, wake up!' _He shouted in his mind to his brother, hoping that he would wake up.

There was a moment of silence.

'_This had better be important.'_ Came a sleepy and groggy reply.

'_Grab Lin and come outside. Something has happened.'_ He said and broke the link, seeing Cat kneeling next to something.

Gene moved closer and noticed the girl staring down in shock with her hand over her mouth. His eyes followed the direction of her gaze. There in the pure white snow lay the half-naked body of a boy, a bloody message scrawled across his chest. The snow around him was slowly being stained red.

* * *

"So she's made another move." Takigawa said, leaning on the windowsill in their base a little over an hour later.

"What exactly happened?" Mai asked no one in particular, holding her cup of hot tea. Cat was sitting beside her, still wearing Gene's too big shirt, a thoughtful expression plastered on her face. Why was it always her that wound up finding the bloody corpses?

"The police are saying that he jumped from the roof. They've excluded the possibility of homicide for now, seeing as there was only one set of footprints on the roof. How he got up there is still a mystery." Naru answered, looking through the files.

They had to do something soon. He was glad that it hadn't been Gene, since the ghost seemed rather fond of attacking him, but still, that didn't mean he welcomed the death of a stranger. It had been one of the members of the group that arrived the other day. For the most part he had ignored them, but when he caught Mai talking with one of the guys well… he certainly wasn't happy about it.

"But there is no doubt that it was _her _doing." Cat pointed out, sipping from her cup. She stressed the word 'her' – having been possessed by the ghost she had developed a personal sense of revenge.

"The message was clear enough." Naru added, closing the folder.

"But why hasn't the ghost attacked Gene?" John asked. "I mean, it seemed pretty interested in him before."

Naru started twirling the pen in his hand, thinking about how to answer.

"If we take into consideration that she is actively seeking revenge, then perhaps killing someone is her way to survive." He said finally, resting his chin on his hand while his elbow rested on his knee. "The fear of her victim is her nutrition, his death was so she could feed herself. With every kill she becomes stronger."

Mai shivered. It just felt so wrong and inhuman; but in their work they often came across things like that.

"So you mean that she killed this guy just to get more energy in order to attack Gene." Cat summarised.

"Most likely. We can't ignore the possibility."

Everyone turned to Gene, suddenly feeling sorry for the boy.

They talked for a while, trying to get all the facts straight. Not that there was much for them to get their heads around. Mai slowly began to doze off, her head lolling down towards her chest once sleep took a hold of her.

* * *

_The party was amazing. Colourful dresses whirled around the dance floor while men gracefully led their partners in the waltz. There was laughter, happiness and excitement in the air._

_Only one person stood alone in the room, tightly gripping the material of her dress as she stood off to one side. Her eyes were trained on a single person, nothing else seemed important to her._

_Toshiko was standing in the centre in her white dress, smiling happily to all the guests as they arrived at her wedding. The man in the black tuxedo was right next to her, his hand resting in the small of her back. They looked amazing and were obviously deeply in love with each other, even Rin had to admit to that. They were almost like the prince and princess from a fairy tale. But she knew that it was only an act for everyone. Toshiko, her parents and the guests had all been fooled by the man's guise. He was a good actor._

_But she wasn't that stupid. She knew what he was really doing. Even now she could see his eyes travelling around the ballroom, looking for a new lady-friend to be his next toy._

_She wanted to crush something, to destroy anything. Her anger swelled inside her, slowly pushing her closer to the edge. _

_With a determined look on her face she turned and exited the room, going unnoticed by the others. That was fine with her. She just needed peace. She couldn't be interrupted._

_Her quick steps took her to her room. She pulled a small black box from beneath her bed and opened it. It was turning out to be a good thing that there was a witch in her family. She had taken more than enough lessons from her aunt to know how to effectively curse things._

_The only problem was what she should use…_

_Thinking for a moment she took the necklace from around her neck. It had been a present from Toshiko for her birthday. It was just the thing, nothing would be better suited to the task._

_Cutting her finger with a knife from the box she smeared her blood over the pendant, chanting inside her head._

_When everything she needed to do was completed she smiled in satisfaction. Now, as long as the necklace was intact, she would be able to get her revenge._

* * *

"…_i…"_

"…_ai…"_

"_Mai! Wake up!"_

Mai's eyes snapped open and she glanced around the base only to find it empty. Her eyes travelled to the person who had woken her and she had to fight down a blush when she saw Naru's face. For a moment she wondered why they were so close, but then her mind started working again and she remembered her dream.

"Necklace!" She shouted, straightening in her seat and putting a tad more space between their faces.

Naru stared at her with a raised brow.

"What are you talking about?"

"The necklace! Rin cursed it so she could get her revenge!"

That caught Naru's attention. He looked down at his assistant with furrowed brows.

"I think - I don't know why, you can call it my intuition if you want – but if we want to get rid of her we have to find the necklace." Mai said determinedly, looking at him. Maybe, just maybe, they had found something decent to go on.


	26. The forbidden feeling IX

The search for the necklace was not going well. First of all, they had no bloody idea where it was or where to start looking! And whenever Cat thought about it she ended up with a pounding headache. Naru made the decision to divide them into groups, as per usual. While Takigawa, Matsuzaki and John were ordered to go down to the basement, Cat, Mai and himself were to go to the attic. Oddly enough Masako said she was staying in her room, claiming that she felt ill. Gene, seeing as he had been the target the last time, was ordered to stay in the base with Lin, whose mission was to keep an eye on the older twin. No one knew what sort of stupid ideas he might come up with and Naru didn't want to take any risks. No matter how annoying Gene was, he still wanted to have his brother around.

At least until the next time he made some stupid comment about Mai. Then Naru would kill him himself. He was such a loving twin.

"I still hate the attic." Mai muttered under her breath, walking next to Cat behind Naru.

Cat put her hands in her pockets, smiling grimly.

"Me too. I swear that if that thing possesses me again I'm going to blow a hole in the freaking wall." She promised to no one in particular.

"You can do that?" Mai glanced at her, interested. She was usually nice and gentle, but she thought that Cat destroying the attic would be quite the show.

Cat shrugged her shoulders.

"Dunno, but we can always find out." She looked at Mai, her usual smirk present this time.

"Hyuga, refrain yourself from blowing things up. If you do I'll make sure to forward you the bills." Naru warned, not turning around.

Cat glared at his back and stuck her tongue out. Mai giggled and that caused the boy to turn around slightly. Seeing the innocent faces of his subordinates he sighed tiredly in his mind. Why did he have to work with a bunch of idiots?

They were close to the steps leading to the attic when Mai stopped suddenly, glancing around. Naru and Cat also stopped, watching her worriedly.

"What is it?" Her boss asked, furrowing his brows.

"Something's wrong." SHe said, growing slightly pale. The feeling... the anger in the air was sickening her. It was stronger than she had felt before. She didn't move; she couldn't move. It was overwhelming her.

"Mai..."

Naru's words were cut short when a sudden force pulled him into one of the side rooms, pushing him to the ground and locking the door. From the groan coming from the other side of the room he knew he wasn't alone. He turned around, half expecting to see Mai with him, since it always seemed to be her with whom he was stuck in closed spaces. Not that he complained about it much.

However, instead of the very familiar brown eyes, he met green eyes from across the room. He raised his brow. Cat shrugged, massaging her head.

"Don't look at me. It's not like it was my choice."

They fell into silence when two voices were heard from behind the doors.

* * *

Mai watched wide-eyed as her two friends disappeared into a different room. The shock dissipated quickly however and she ran over to the dor. She paused mid-step when she felt someone's presence behind her. It was somehow familiar, but at the same time there was something strange mixed in with it. She gulped. Whatever it was, she knew that it wasn't good. Slowly she turned around, blinking in surprise upon seeing a familiar face.

"M-Masako." She said, forcing a small laugh.

The feeling refused to leave her. The black haired girl had her head down, not looking in her direction.

"I thought you said you were sick, I hope you're feeling better. We decided to leave you alone to recover, sorry if you felt left alone..." Mai started talking nonsense, her heartbeat racing.

Her heart stopped when Masako raised her head. The eyes that looked at Mai's weren't hers, however, the brown haired girl had seen them once before. They had once been Cat's eyes.

She knew right then that she was in deep shit. But something wasn't right. The ghost always targeted boys, right? That was why Gene was in danger. So why was she in front of her? She shouldn't be looking to hurt her.

Masako moved towards her and she backed up. This continued until Mai hit the edge of the table situated at the end of the corridor.

Mai closed her eyes, knowing that nothing good could come from her situation.

But what she felt instead of pain was a hand caressing her cheek. Mai opened her eyes, daring herself to see what was going on. She met those brown eyes again, eyes that watched her with care and... love? The caressing didn't stop.

"Don't worry my beloved." Masako said in a voice so not like her that in any other situation Mai would have been forced to stop herself from gaping in shock. It was so gentle and full of warmth. Never ever had the black haired woman directed anything to anyone in such a manner. "I am going to end your pain right now. There will be no more suffering from now on." She said, something flashing in her eyes.

Mai didn't know why but she had a feeling that it had something to do with the two people locked in the room.

"W-what are you talking about?" She whispered, too scared to move.

She knew, however, that the ghost wasn't going to do anything to her. Those eyes showed her as much. She must have confused her with Toshiko somehow. Even if they did look nothing alike...

Still, one bad move could cause the possessed girl to do something else, something more sinister.

Something flashed in Masako's newly acquired brown eyes.

"I'm talking about _him_ of course! He is the reason for your pain!" She said, her voice hard this time. Mai shivered and the brown eyes softened. "You don't need to worry. I am not going to hurt you."

The hand was removed from Mai's cheek.

"Now please stay here, do not go anywhere. I will be right back, after I have dealt with the two unfaithful ones."

Mai couldn't bring herself to move. She could only watch as Masako moved without hurry to the room where Naru and Cat were imprisoned.

* * *

"Unfaithful?" Cat repeated, furrowing her brows.

The corridors on the last floor had absolutely no sound-proofing.

"She has somehow gotten it in her head that we have betrayed Mai." Naru answered, seemingly getting a grip on the situation.

"Wasn't she going after Gene?"

"I think she might have mixed us up."

"But I don't remember any situation that would cause her to think they we're traitors." She said before thinking for a second. "Unless you drugged me and did something."

Naru looked at her incredulously.

"Trust me Hyuga, I'm not in the habit of doing that sort of thing. You should ask my brother."

The sound of the lock clicking open stopped them. They looked over at the door, expressions hard.

Masako entered the room in all her possessed glory.

"What a lovely couple we have here." She said, an evil gleam in her eyes as she looked at them. "You are going to pay."

Naru looked at her, calculating the situation. He was sure that they could both protect themselves, considering their powers, but he didn't want to hurt Masako. As irritating as she was with all her tries to get him to date her, she was still his subordinate. He knew that if he used his SPR on her he would hurt her badly or even kill her. Since he had never seen Cat use her powers on another person he couldn't say anything about her, but he had his suspicions.

"Would you care to share why it is that we're going to pay?" He asked, eyeing her.

Brown eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You want to play innocent to the very end?" Possessed Masako asked, staring straight at him. "You know exactly what you have done."

"Actually, no, I don't."

That only seemed to anger the ghost further.

"You hurt her! She trusted you with her heart and you just broke it!"

It seemed as though the ghost was completely confused, mixing the past and the present. It was bad. From his side of the room he could feel the temperature rising. Cat was ready to strike at any moment.

Masako shifted her attention to her. She moved towards her with terrifying speed and Cat's eyes widened in fright.

"Do not dare try to do anything you whore!"

Possessed people really did have greater power. Cat screamed in surprise and pain when she was pushed and smacked into the wooden side of one of the beds in the room. With her concentration lost the temperature went down again. Masako looked as though she was going to strike again, but her eyes landed on Naru when he moved to stop her. A smirk blossomed on her lips.

"Do not worry, it is your turn now."

She slipped a dagger from the sleeve of her kimono.

She wasn't even distracted when the door banged loudly against the wall.

* * *

When Mai heard screaming coming from the room she snapped out of her stupor. she ran to the door and grabbed the handle, but it was locked, just like she had suspected somewhere in the back of her mind.

"Stop it!" She shouted, already knowing that it was in vain, but still, she continued. "Please, just let them go! They didn't do anything!"

She could hear a bang, as though something had hit the floor. Laughter, unmistakably Masako's, was heard. Tears streamed down her face.

She wanted to help them. She didn't want to lose anyone. Cat was her friend, while Naru was her most important person, the one closest to her heart. Losing both of them would break her. If she could never see the cold blue eyes, that familiar face, if she could never hear his sarcastic comments and remarks, she wouldn't be whole. She wouldn't be able to live.

Mai sank to the floor. She didn't even notice when white light began to emit from her body.

* * *

Naru lay on his back, trying to force the dagger away from his chest. How so small a girl could be so strong confounded him, but it was certainly aggravating.

From the corner of his eye he saw Cat lift up her glowing hand. In the same moment the door flew from its hinges and a white light caused them all to close their eyes.

When Masako's body suddenly fell on top of him, unmoving, Naru decided to see what was going on.

The room was back to normal and he sat up, pushing Masako to the floor - gently though, he was still a gentleman.

His eyes widened for a moment when he saw Mai, kneeling on the floor with damp streaks on her cheeks. She looked rather dumbfounded, as if she didn't know what had happened.

And she really didn't. One moment she was thinking about what could happen if the ghost really did do something to her friends, the next moment the door flew open. Mai wondered if Cat had discovered she could blow things up after all. She glanced at Naru who was watching her with as much shock as he would allow himself to show, while Cat sat on her knees, watching with her mouth partially open. It was a sure sign that something strange had happened.

Quick steps could be heard and Takigawa, Lin, Gene and the rest of the team came barging into the room.

"What happened?" The monk asked, stopping next to Mai and examining her.

The girl tried to smile at him, but a sudden dizziness caused her to black out.

* * *

"So Mai is not a medium?" Takigawa asked, looking at the girl who was lying on the couch, still unconscious.

Naru twirled a pencil in his hand.

"She is, but she is also capable of something else." He answered, thinking deeply.

"So what is she?" Ayako asked, sitting next to the girl.

Instead of answering, Naru turned his sharp gaze to Cat.

"You knew about it." He stated and everyone turned to her. She blinked in surprise. "When we were at your school in the infirmary. You said that her powers weren't fully developed yet."

Cat furrowed her brows, wondering about it for a moment.

"Oh yeah." She said, finally remembering. "When I stood in front of her when she was going to be attacked I felt a rise in her spiritual power. It was much higher than that of a medium. But seeing as how she didn't try to protect herself I deduced that she didn't know about it." She answered honestly.

"Do you know what her powers are?" Of course Naru wouldn't ask anyone for help. Lin did.

Her eyes widened in sudden realisation.

"The necklace!" She said loudly.

They blinked at her, not understanding her outburst in the slightest.

"Mai is the necklace?" Gene asked, barely hiding the humour in his voice.

Cat simply whacked him on the back of the head.

'_Abusive girl, she is.'_Gene thought, but he didn't complain.

"Don't be an idiot. The necklace Mai was talking about. I saw it before _she_ possessed me. It's in the attic!"

* * *

_A/N: Ok, so here is the new chapter. If any of you are confused about all this, don't hesitate to ask me outright. I will answer it on PM or in the next chapter. _

_Edited: Dark Akuma Hunter_


	27. TFF: Case Closed Randomly

Once they found the necklace the case ended. It came as a great surprise to the team that the ghost hadn't attacked them at all after Naru removed the necklace from its shelf in the attic. With Takigawa's mantra and John's prayers the residual spirit presence was successfully exorcised and destroyed. The death of the boy was unfortunate and Mai was feeling remorseful about it. She couldn't quite manage to shake the feeling of guilt that she had, the feeling that he wouldn't have had to die if they had acted faster. Still, she knew that they had done all they could with the knowledge they had.

Naru had his own ideas as to the reason why the ghost hadn't attacked them, however he refused to share them with the rest of the team until he found some time to do further research into it.

Mai closed the case file with a sigh and put the pen down. It was still so damn cold outside and she didn't particularly feel like going home. She glanced over at Cat and Gene, who occupied both couches in the office as they read manga. Cat refused to sit near him as of late, saying she "needed some space away from him after spending too much time with him in one room.." It looked like forcing them to room together hadn't been a very good idea. Or it was actually quite the opposite, it Mai were to judge the situation by the almost invisible blush that presented itself on the girl's cheeks when she said it.

She smiled to herself and glanced down at the door to her boss's office, where Naru was sitting with his hot tea. The smile dropped from her face and she sighed tiredly. Naru hadn't once made any notion of mentioning the kiss since they arrived back, and she was far too embarrassed about the whole situation to start the conversation herself. It had just been an accident after all, it hadn't exactly happened by choice. While she had enjoyed it a lot she was certain that he would have hated it. However, for a very short moment during the kiss she could have sworn that he was enjoying it too, especially when his arms tightened around her momentarily, bringing her closer to his body. She felt so... so...

Feeling heat rising in her cheeks she quickly shook her head, ridding herself of such fanciful thoughts. She slapped her cheeks lightly to try and draw herself back to reality, gaining the attention of the other two teens.

"What's going on?" Cat asked. pocky sticking out of her mouth as she watched her curiously.

Mai laughed, embarrassed, shaking her hand in front of her.

"Nothing, nothing at all." She replied quickly while trying to change the subject. "What are you reading?"

Gene raised a brow seeing her behaviour but, for once, decided not to comment on it.

"Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I just watched the anime." He answered her question, bringing the book cover up for Mai to see. There was a boy with gravity defying brown hair and a baby in a fedora hat.

Mai blinked.

"I know this one!" She exclaimed, rounding her desk. She glanced over Gene's shoulder, but when she saw the english words in place of the regular japanese she swiftly moved over to Cat. Gene smirked at her and she stuck her tongue out at him. "My friends showed it to me."

Thankfully the other girl's version was in japanese.

"Really? And who is your favourite character?" Cat asked, glancing at her over the top of the book.

Mai thought about it for a moment.

"I think I like Hibari the most." She decided finally and blinked in confusion when Cat suddenly smirked. "What?"  
"Is there any particular reason why it's Hibari?" The other girl asked, resting the book on her stomach.

"Should there be?" Mai asked, not knowing what Cat was thinking. Gene looked over his book at the girls, listening interestedly to their conversation.

"Well you know. Black hair, blue eyes. Self-centred, hates to be around other people, prefers to be alone, doesn't like taking opinions from others, rarely smiles, has complete confidence in himself, takes advantage of his authority..." Cat listed, staring at Mai. "Does any of this ring a bell?"

Mai still seemed confused while Gene snorted in amusement. Of course he had noted the fact that the character looked similar to him and his brother, he had simply never thought to compare Noll to Hibari in any other way.

When Mai finally caught on her face flushed a bright red.

"I-it's not like that!" She shouted, flailing her arms around in desperation.

"Are you sure?" Gene asked, his amused smirk still on his face.

"Yes, I am!" She turned to him, glaring slightly.

"Maybe you should consider it again?" Cat asked and she whirled around to face the other girl.

"I'm not going to consider it. I do not like Hibari because of your delusion that he is similar to Naru." She said, folding her arms across her chest, her cheeks still red. "Besides, I don't see Naru going around threatening to beat people to death!"

"Why should I?"

The three of them from froze for a moment before Mai turned around to look at Naru, standing behind her with an eyebrow raised and a look of confusion well masked in his eyes. Mai glanced at the other two for help, but they were too busy trying not to laugh.

"I-it's... you... t-the thing i-is..." Mai stuttered, and Naru's brow rose even higher. "Gene will explain it to you!" She finally said panicking and pointed at the other twin.

"You see, we were just comparing you to a character from a manga." His brother offered kindly, a big grin on his face. "His name is Hibari Kyoya."

Naru didn't seem amused at all.

"If you have nothing better to do just go home." He replied shortly, glancing briefly at Mai before going to hide in his office again. He made a mental note to never check on the three of them again if he heard them shouting. Their idiocy would surely start to rub off on him.

Gene smirked. He was pretty sure that his brother would google the name soon enough.

"You two are terrible!" Mai accused her two friends.

"But you love us anyway." Cat countered, patting the girl's knee from where she sat.

"Still, if you think that Hibari looks similar to Naru, then why not to Gene?" Mai asked curiously.

Cat shrugged.

"It's their characters. With Gene's easy-going character I think he's more similar to Dino." She answered, and upon seeing the rather smug look on his face added "And don't forget about the random bouts of idiocy."

Gene's smug expression dropped and Cat smirked at him.

"With your love of abusing me I would say that you're mildly similar to Lal." He said thoughtfully.

He was met with a pillow to the face.

"I'm not abusing you. And I happen to like Lal." She answered. Her eyes locked onto Mai and she followed the other girl's gaze to their boss's door for a moment. Putting her book down Cat stood and wrapped her arms around the girl's neck. "And Mai will be our little Tsunayoshi-kun~" She said cheerfully, hugging the girl to her.

"W-what are you doing?" The other girl stared at her in shock. Cat had never appeared very fond of physical contact after all.

Gene raised his brow at that and 'hm'ed. Mai and Cat looked at him, still caught up in their embrace.

"What?" Cat asked.

"You know, you just sounded like Mukuro." He answered at the moment the office door opened once more. Naru needed to get some papers from Mai's desk. "Cat, are you going to possess and take advantage of Mai's body? Because I think that's improper."

Cat and Mai blinked at him while Naru stood frozen in the doorway. As more pillows (and books) were hurled at his brother he decided that he should seriously just stay in his office until the rest of them left.

* * *

_A/N: Yeah, complete random, I know. It just came into my mind during my night shift at work, so it's destined to be weird. But fillers, both chapters and episodes, are meant to be not normal. And I always get crazy ideas during my night shifts. My mind just works that way. _

_Like always, thanks to everyone who reviewed, added to favorites and allerts. Thanks to you I know that someone is enjoying this story._

_I am so happy that this case finally ended. I have started it with good plan in my head, however it disappeared soon enough and writing the chapters was very big pain; it's one of the reasons why I uploaded with bigger breaks. The other is writer block and exams, but that you know already. I have this strange feeling that few last chapters were definitely not satisfying, at least for me. I will try to make it better while writing next case. I'm really thankful to everyone who dealed with me until now. If you have any critics, I will gladly hear that. _

_And sorry for making you wait a little longer for 'the talk' between Mai and Naru. I just can't find right moment to put it in. After all, it has to be something memorable, I don't want to spoil the moment by writing something without inspiration. Sorry again, please don't hate me. _

_So, like always, again, thanks for my beta Dark Akuma Hunter. Actually, it was conversation with her what inspired me to write this chapter. _


	28. I want my Mommy I

For the first time in memory when the SPR gathered together in the office there was complete silence. No-one said anything; they sat in their respective seats without making a sound.

Well, nothing except for the occasional snore.

Mai and Cat were sleeping, leaning against each other on one of the couches while Gene sat staring at the ceiling next to them, his head resting on the back of the couch as he tried to fight off sleep. Takigawa was also gone from the world and exhaustion was the only thing keeping Ayako from shoving his head off of her shoulder. Masako was awake – dignity not allowing her to succumb to sleep in the presence of others – but every now and again she would cover her mouth with the sleeve of her kimono to hide a yawn. John was slipping in and out of consciousness, trying desperately to stay awake.

Why were they like that?

Because Naru had had the brilliant idea to call them up at 3 in the morning, demanding that they come to the office ASAP.

Of course, being the good subordinates that they are, they all arrived - whether they managed to hear anything he had to say was another story.

The loud sound of something heavy hitting the coffee table startled them all awake and they shot up in their seats, staring wide-eyed at their boss. The teenage girls stared in his direction, but the glassy look in their eyes signalled that they were still far from being properly alert.

"I have a new case for us." Naru started, completely awake. He really wasn't human.

"And you had to tell us this early?" Takigawa grumbled; Naru sent him a look.

"If you don't want to be here you are welcome to leave." He shot back and the monk fell silent. "Madoka called me two hours ago. She sent us two files to check, that's why we will be splitting up for this particular assignment."

"Separating?" Mai asked, her voice quiet and drowsy. "We never split up." She pointed out, rather confused. She hadn't exactly caught much of what was being said, but that particular word had caught her attention.

"If you know of a way for us to be in two places at once I will gladly alter the plans Mai." Naru said. He definitely wasn't a morning person, and to top it all off he hadn't had any tea.

Not that Mai had the energy to notice that.

"One of the cases is in the outskirts of Tokyo. I'm sure you have heard about the Yokuda Mansion?"

"That place where all the inhabitants disappear?" Ayako asked, stifling a yawn.

"Exactly. The new owner is some acquaintance of hers and she asked us to take a look at the case. All we know is that the first family to go missing was in 1942. From then on no-one has lived there for longer than a year. In total almost 50 people have disappeared without a trace. We have to check everything thoroughly."

He didn't want to have to face the annoying woman if they managed to miss something. He pushed the black folders to Mai, Takigawa, Ayako, Masako and John. Cat and Gene leaned over Mai to read it too, but their attention was drawn away when Naru cleared his throat.

"Gene, Hyuga-san, you will be going somewhere else." He said as he produced several blue folders from his notebook. He pushed them on to the table. "There have been several deadly accidents along this road, always in the same spot. This time however someone survived. She said that there was a kid on the road which made them crash into the tree. She reappeared several times and tried to kill the woman but she was able to escape. That was taken from her interrogation with the police. Since you can drive Gene, and Hyuga-san is female, you are taking care of it."

Cat raised an eyebrow.

"What does the fact that I'm female have anything to do with this?" She was reluctant to be in a car being driven by Gene, but she decided to let it go and not bring it up.

"It's in your file. Read it."

"Too lazy..." She replied, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

"You have all day to read it. Even a kindergartner would be able to read it in that amount of time."

"We are leaving at seven, so go collect your things and then meet back here. Hyuga, Gene, you have to be in place at midnight so make sure you check the time. After you're done join us at Yokuda."

They all nodded and filed out of the office. While Cat and Gene would be able to go back to sleep they rest had to be ready to leave in three hours. Oh joy.

=GHOSTHUNT=

_Yokuda Mansion_

Mai was yawning tiredly throughout their ride to the mansion. Since it was just outside of Tokyo she didn't have any time to sleep during the relatively short journey. They unpacked the equipment from the vans while Naru spoke with the owner of the mansion. Madoka was going to join them the next day and Mai could not wait for her to arrive. She really liked the crazy, cheerful woman, especially the fact that she was able to keep Naru in line.

"Don't fall asleep there Mai." Takigawa's voice reached her ears and she turned around to look at the man, who had several monitors in his arms.

"I'm not sleeping." But she would like to be. She grabbed some cables and joined the monk in the walk to the mansion.

"It's big... I don't know why someone would want to live here." She commented, tilting her head back to look at the mansion.

"It's surely spacious." Takigawa answered her, concentrating more on the expensive equipment he was carrying than what she had to say.

Mai was about to answer when movement caught her attention. She turned her head to look at a small blond haired girl who was sticking her head out from behind the wall to look at them. She looked so innocent and sweet that Mai couldn't help but smile.

"Hello there." She called cheerfully, but the kid just turned around and ran away.

She blinked in surprise.

"Don't worry about Kyoko-chan." A female voice said from the door, causing her to turn and see a young woman, the new owner of the house. "She is the daughter of one of the neighbours. She is a really sweet girl, but very shy. I'm Yoma Shizuru, nice to meet you."

Mai nodded to the woman, returning her friendly smile.

"I'm Taniyama Mai and this is Takigawa Houshou, please take care of us." She answered, pointing to herself and the monk, who had begun to sweat under the weight of the equipment he was holding.

The woman quickly stepped aside, allowing him to get to their temporary base.

"Sorry I blocked your way." She smiled apologetically. She started walking next to Mai. "You boss is speaking with my husband about the details. I never expected him to be so young. Madoka-chan said that he was young, but nothing like that." She said.

"Naru is young but he is very experienced and capable." Mai said straight away to defend her boss, not even noticing the offended tone that entered her voice.

Shizuru smiled, tilting her head towards Mai.

"Don't worry, I know. Madoka wouldn't send you here otherwise." She answered.

Mai blushed lightly but before she could apologise the devil himself appeared before them.

"Mai, tea. Then, take Takigawa with you and measure the temperature in the rooms." He ordered and she sighed.

It wasn't until evening that they were finally finished everything.

=GHOSTHUNT=

Mai finished her shower and exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head. For now nothing important had happened so Naru sent them to their rooms. If she didn't know better she would have been sure that he wanted them to catch up on their missed sleep. But this was Naru they were talking about.

She was on her way to her room when one of the paintings caught her attention. It was a portrait of a family of four; parents and two sons, she assumed. But something was off... She tilted her head slightly and examined the painting with furrowed brows.

"You look rather pained."

She jumped at the cold voice of her boss and glanced at him angrily.

"I was thinking you jerk!" She answered him.

Naru looked amused for a moment and she took a swing at him, but he easily avoided it.

"It's a portrait of the last family which lived here. They disappeared two weeks ago and the Yoma's haven't gotten around to getting rid of it yet." He explained to her, pointing at the painting. "What were you doing to make your brain cells hurt so much?" He asked, and Mai could feel a vein throbbing angrily on her forehead.

"I was _thinking_ that something is odd about it." She answered honestly and turned her attention to the painting once more.

Naru also concentrated on the portrait, trying to see what Mai meant, but everything seemed to be in order, there was nothing off about it to him. He had however learnt during their work together that ignoring Mai's intuition would be a bad idea. He decided to have Lin ask Madoka to look at it, since she had better knowledge about art.

"You're imagining things Mai, go to sleep." He said, moving in the direction of their temporary base.

She looked after his disappearing figure and felt something sting in her heart. She shook her head to get rid of it.

She went to her room, which she shared with Ayako and Masako, and lay down in her bed and almost immediately drifted off to sleep.

_She opened her eyes. It was dark everywhere, she couldn't even see her own hands when she brought them up to her face. It had to be another of her dreams, she decided._

_She looked around in the darkness. It was giving her uncomfortable feelings, and her heart was hammering in her chest. Whatever ghost was projecting it could have at least given her some light._

_Mai was about to really freak out when a small sphere of light started floating in front of her. She was watching it when suddenly voices started floating out from it._

"_Mommy... daddy... where are you..."_

"_The parents... soldier..."_

"_... don't leave... alone..."_

"_... scared..."_

_The feelings of sadness and loneliness tore at Mai's heart. She didn't know why but the sphere was making her want to cry, the well-known feelings affecting her strongly. She reached her hand out to touch it but it disappeared again as quickly as it had appeared._

She woke with a start. Feeling something wet on her cheeks she put a hand to her face and wiped away the tears. Not wanting to go to sleep again, she climbed to her feet and moved to the base.

She might as well give Naru the report about her dream right now. The dream had awoken something within her and she didn't want to be alone. Seeing as how both her roommates were sleeping, she decided to go somewhere with conscious people.

"What's wrong Mai?" Naru asked when she entered the base.

She rubbed her shoulders, silently berating herself for not taking anything warmer with her when she left her room. The air was chilly at night.

"I had a dream and uh... wanted to tell you."

Lin and Naru looked at her, signaling for her to continue.

So she told them everything, together with the feeling she got from the sphere. Naru noted everything down, glancing at her from time to time. He could see in her eyes that the dream had effected her emotionally and he frowned. He knew that Mai often took everything to heart, and if the case was about a lost child, as he deduced from the words spoken by the sphere, he was afraid that Mai could be affected worse than usual. He knew the history of her family, so he could guess what she was feeling right now.

Seeing her rubbing her shoulders he sighed. The idiot was going to catch a cold soon.

When something warm landed on her shoulders Mai looked up. Upon seeing the dark jacket draped across her shoulders she turned in surprise to her boss, but he had his back to her, taking his phone out.

"If you're awake be useful and watch the monitors. I have to call Gene." He said, dialling his brother's number.

Lin smirked at the scene. He knew that Naru was worried about Mai but he wondered where they had made mistakes in teaching the kid to express his feelings.

There was silence while Naru was talking and Mai and Lin watched the monitors. That is, until one sentence caught their attention.

"Hyuga is drunk?"

=GHOSTHUNT=

_With Gene and Cat_

Cat checked to see if she had everything in her bag and then glanced at the clock. It was after nine and Gene was bound to pick her up soon. The ride to their particular piece of road was two hours long. They were to stay in a motel not far from the accident site.

According to what she had read, they were just supposed to find the ghost and take care of it. Seeing as the exorcisms performed by the priest weren't effective, Naru decided that her powers would work better.

If they were lucky, the case would be finished in a day. Or so she hoped anyway.

When the doorbell rang she grabbed her bag and went to answer it. Gene was standing there in his usual clothes, the keys to the car in his hand.

"On time, I'm surprised." She greeted him and he rolled his eyes.

"Your trust in me is flattering." He answered, taking the bag from her hands.

Cat nodded her head in thanks and he was glad she hadn't commented. More often now girls would start ranting about feminism and how they didn't need a man's help.

Cat glanced at him as he started the car.

"Are you even old enough to drive?" She asked the question that had been on her mind since she woke up.

"I got my license when I was in England, before coming to Japan. And I've been learning to drive since I was pretty young." He answered as he pulled out into the street. "I brib... I mean I _asked_ Lin to teach me when I was around fourteen."

Cat raised her brow at his slip of the tongue but decided not to ask.

"If you crash into some tree without the assistance of a ghost then so help me I will hurt you." She warned him and he smiled innocently at her.

=GHOSTHUNT=

It was midnight and they were nearing the accident site. Gene glanced to his side to see that Cat had fallen asleep sometime during the ride. He smiled slightly, but the reached over and shook her awake. She jerked up.

"What's going on?" She mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"Nothing yet, but we're almost there." He answered, concentrating on the road once more.

Cat yawned and shook her head to wake herself up.

"Do you feel anything?" She asked again, sitting straighter in her seat.

He shook his head. He still didn't feel anything when they passed the site. Or when they went back. It was around one o'clock when they decided to call it a day and head back to the motel.

"Tomorrow we are going on a nice walk in the forest." Gene decided when they parked in front of the building.

He shivered slightly when he climbed out of the car into the cold air. He raised a brow when two guys left the building, leaning heavily on each other while trying to walk straight. Cat smiled in amusement.

"Come on, we're going inside." He said, shaking his head.

Inside it was warm, for which he was thankful, and loud, thanks to all the men that were enjoying their sake there. Seeing the newcomers they greeted them jovially.

"Wait here and I'll go register us." Gene said to Cat. He went over to the man behind the counter while Cat leaned against the wall.

"... the little ghost showed up again."

Hearing the words she turned her attention to a group of older men.

Glancing over at Gene, who was talking to the owner of the motel, she moved over to them.

"Sorry, did you just say something about ghosts?" She asked with a friendly smile.

The men looked up at her.

"Are you interested in ghost stories, ojou-chan?" One of them asked, leaning closer and whispering to her.

"Oh I just love them." She answered, but the guys didn't catch the sarcasm in her voice.

"We will tell you if you drink with us!" One of them exclaimed, holding the sake out to her.

She hesitated for a moment, but finally grabbed the bottle. Who knows, maybe they could tell her something interesting.

That day Gene learned that Cat couldn't hold her liquor at all. When he came back thirty minutes later (the owner was very hesitant to give them rooms since they were both underage, but then Madoka called), he found her laughing merrily with some unknown man.

"Cat?" He called her name and she turned around, almost losing her balance if he hadn't caught her around the waist.

"Oh, are you with this ojou-chan? She asked us for some ghost stories!"

As far as Gene knew, telling ghost stories didn't necessarily involve alcohol.

"Yes, she is with me. Thanks for... taking care of her... but I'll be taking her away now, ok?" He asked politely, trying to hide his amusement at Cat's red cheeks and balance issues.

He remembered that fresh air always worked on his mother when she had one too many drinks at parties. He had seen his father taking care of her.

"Bye guys, you were great!" Cat shouted over her shoulder to her companions and Gene almost laughed at her out of character behaviour.

"We'll take our bags, ok?" He asked her, leading her outside while she nodded happily.

He helped her sit in the car for a moment when his phone rang. Seeing the ID he answered it.

"Miss me already Noll?" He asked.

"_How is your case going?"_

"Nothing much for now, we are at the motel." He answered and looked down at the girl when she rested her head on his stomach. He sighed and knelt down to allow her to rest on his shoulder. "It looks like Cat tried to gather some information but you'll have to wait for a report."

"_Why?"_

"She really isn't in any state to talk to you right now." Gene answered and smirked. "Never allow her to drink again."

There was a moment of silence.

"_Hyuga is drunk?"_

* * *

___A/N: So, here we start with the new case. It's possible that I will upload faster than before, however I don't want to make any promise. _

_Dark Akuma Hunter, as always, is greatly priced for editing the chapter.  
_

_And **something very important now!** I have this little problem concerning my OC, Cat. Since I don't want to develope her into standard Mary Sue (I hope it's not too late already), since I'm not very fond of it, or to push her accidently on the first plan, I have a question to you, my dear readers.  
_

_1) Do you want me to develope Cat's history more and find out more about her family and character or should she stay just like she is now?  
_

_If you have any suggestions or critics concerning her character, write to me ahead.  
_

_And also, since some people have doubts about it, I will repeat: there will be no romance between Cat and Naru. Maybe some short of friendship since they can end up as a family somewhere in the future, but nothing more. Naru is for Mai and it will not be changed. Never ever.  
_

_And please, review? I want to know what you think about it. __  
_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. Only Cat and other OCs.  
_


	29. I want my Mommy II

_A/N: New chapter, please enjoy it.  
__  
_

_I don't really have any energy left to write a note, since I'm imprisoned sick and dying in my bed. Seriously, I hate flu, I can't do anything. So, I only apologize for long break. Please, leave a word when you are done.  
_

* * *

Gene wore a smug expression as they drove to the forest the next day. He was in an excellent mood, though the same couldn't be said for his travelling companion. Cat looked as though she were about to kill someone.

"How are you feeling this fine morning?" Well, Gene was both a sadist and a masochist, so he didn't care much to be intimidated by her glare.

His smile widened.

"You know, there are some painkillers in my bag if you want them."

Cat could feel a vein throbbing angrily on her forehead.

"And there's water in the backseat."

"Will you shut up?!" She finally shouted. He had been going on and on about it since she woke up. "Anyway, the guys told me a story about the ghost."

"And you can remember it? I must say I'm impressed."

It took all of her self-control not to kill him on the spot. She cleared her throat irritably.

"They said that it's the ghost of a little girl who died in an accident here a few years ago. They weren't able to find her body, but since the car was situated near the lake they suspected that it fell into the river during the crash. Since then the ghost shows itself every few weeks, taking away the lives of travelling couples because she wants her parents back. According to them today is the day the next accident will happen."

Gene furrowed his brows in thought.

"How do they know this?"

"Because the moon was red."

There was a moment of silence.

"Yeah, that makes sense." 

* * *

_Yokuda Mansion_

Mai spent nearly the entire night in the base. She had been watching the monitors, however with nothing happening on any of them she eventually succumbed to sleep again. When she woke the next day she was greatly surprised to find herself lying on the couch inside the base. She had no idea as to how she got there, but she wasn't going to complain.

Lost in her own thoughts she missed the way Lin glanced at Naru from time to time, the teen only deeming to scowl in response.

Once everyone had woken and had breakfast the door of their base burst open, admitting a woman with bright pink hair who waltzed inside, smiling cheerfully.

"Hello, did you miss me terribly?" She sang enthusiastically.

"And there goes my peace of mind." Naru murmured under his breath; only Mai heard him, as she was the one sitting closest to him.

She had to hold back her laughter. Madoka glanced at her, and before she knew it the girl was swept into the crushing embrace of the older woman.

"Mai, I hope this idiotic student of mine hasn't been torturing you too much? I'll deal with him later, I promise." She said, causing Naru to glare daggers at her back.

"H-hi Madoka-san." Mai answered shakily, smiling in an embarrassed fashion.

The woman looked around the room, observing and taking note of every member of SPR.

"And where is Gene?" She asked, looking at Naru and releasing Mai from her hold.

Naru took a sip of his tea before answering.

"He and Hyuga-san are currently taking care of another case." He answered slowly.

Madoka furrowed her brows. She would have preferred for Gene to be in this particular case, but she didn't comment. Lin caught a glimpse of her expression and she shook her head, silently promising to explain it to him and Naru later on.

"So how are things going?" She asked.

Before anyone could answer, Naru's phone rang. He looked oddly surprised upon seeing the caller ID and put the conversation on speaker.

"Yes?"

Mai heard Cat's voice emanating from the phone.

"We've got a little problem here."

"If it's about your hangover I won't be able to help."

"It's not!" Mai almost giggled at the indignation in her voice. "Anyway, Gene seems to have turned into some sort of zombie."

Naru blinked, trying to understand what she meant. Finally it dawned on him.

"Is he staring at one thing with an expressionless face while not responding to anything?" He asked, trying to remember what happened the last time his brother had been in that state.

"Yes. Oh wait, he moved."

"Go after him. He won't be paying attention to his surroundings, since he is either having a vision or is holding a conversation with the spirit." He explained. It was rare for his brother to lapse into a submissive state during his visions since he had long ago learned to control it, but it still happened from time to time. "Call me when he wakes up."

"Roger that... Don't walk straight into the lake, moron!" Was the last thing they heard before the girl ended the call.

Mai glanced at Naru who looked notably worried for a moment before pulling himself together and turning to address his subordinates.

"Takigawa, Mai, go and check the temperature in the rooms. Matsuzaki-san, Hara-san, John-san, go to the library, Yomu-san said that there are some journals there that you can look at." He ordered and they all moved to their respective jobs.

"I had hoped that you would send Bou-san and Ayako-san to work the other case." Madoka said when they were left alone.

"Why? Gene and Hyuga are capable of holding their own there." Nary said, putting down his notebook.

"I don't doubt their abilities, but they will be more needed here." She informed him and leaned against the back of the couch. "And I wanted to have a chat with your newest employee."

Naru turned an interested look on her.

"I talked with your father. We have reason to believe that the contrahere lapidiem is somehow connected to either this house or the person or ghost causing the disappearances. Even if Mai's powers are strong enough to sense it when in close proximity she won't know what to focus on. Gene is more experienced than her when it comes to this sort of thing. I also heard that it was thanks to Hyuga-san's powers that you managed to destroy the one you encountered previously?" Naru nodded, but he was sure that she didn't really need the confirmation.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Naru asked, starting to get annoyed.

He remembered how close they were to losing Mai last time and how dangerous these things were. If he had known what they were to be facing, he would...

"You would have declined the case," Madoka answered, watching him carefully, "And you are the only team strong enough to deal with the demons."

"So you purposely decided to put us in danger?" He asked, glaring at his old teacher.

"You put yourself in danger all the time. If I had thought you would be unable to deal with it I wouldn't have brought it up."

Her reassurances did little to calm him down. Lin stared at him when the cup on the table began to shake.

"Do you know how close we were to losing Mai during the last case that involved the stone? That she was almost murdered due to someone's desire? That her heart stopped beating for a moment when she was pulled into the dream in hospital? Or that Hyuga was in a coma and there was a genuine possibility that she wouldn't wake up? Gene and I would have ended up being killed and dismembered if we hadn't figured everything out in time." He glared at her with cold eyes; he didn't raise his voice, but there was no need to.

"Naru, go outside." Lin stopped him and cold eyes fixed on him. "Don't come back until you are calm."

Naru was about to say something, but stood up rapidly and exited the room without looking back.

"He always was more inclined to listen to you." Madoka commented when the doors closed.

"But he is right, you know?" Lin turned his attention to her.

The woman sighed tiredly.

"I know, but we have thoroughly checked everything with Martin and Luella. Since you have already experienced something like this there is a high chance that you would be able to put an end to it before anything worse happens. If and when it becomes too much for you to handle you leave. Shizune already knows that."

Lin merely watched her for a moment. Both sides had reasonable points, so he was going to stay out of it.

"You said that you wanted to have a talk with Hyuga-san." He said after a moment.

Madoka jumped in surprise.

"Oh, yeah. I was really interested in her powers, so I did some research in the Institute after Naru asked me, but the data is either really well hidden or there simply isn't much of it. I want to inquire about it, because the sources I did find weren't exactly... reliable." 

* * *

"The stupid jerk, making us do this again." Mai mumbled as she and Takigawa travelled to the last room.

"Now Mai, it's not nice to talk like that about your boss." The monk reprimanded lightly in a laughing tone.

It was the largest room, the one that seemed like a ball room. She turned around, looking at everything. There were a few paintings on the walls, but one in particular caught her attention. She walked over to it.

"What are you looking at?" Takigawa asked, going after her.

Mai stopped near a family portrait.

"I've seen this exact same portrait in the corridor; the only difference is the family it portrays."

The family shown consisted of the parents and three daughters, but there still seemed to be something wrong with it.

"Well maybe it's some sort of tradition, you know? They saw saw a portrait like that, found it to their liking and had one commissioned for themselves." Takigawa explained, seeing nothing unusual or of great interest.

"Yeah, maybe you're right..." Mai said, however she wasn't completely convinced. 

* * *

_Near the Lake_

"What the hell were you thinking?! You could have drowned! You could have caught hypothermia by now!"

Gene would have smiled in amusement at seeing Cat so frustrated if he wasn't so damn cold.

The last thing he remembered was getting out of the car and then - he was standing in the freezing lake.

"But we found the body." He pointed out through his chattering teeth. The paramedics had covered him in blankets, but it was still too cold.

Cat only glared at him, her green eyes flashing. As soon as Gene was out of the water she had called the police to take care of the body, a priest to take care of prayers, and an ambulance to take care of her idiotic partner.

She had been really scared, especially upon catching a glimpse of his terrified and yet sad face while he was staring at the water. Before she could even get over to him the moron had already jumped into the lake. At least she was fast enough to help him get out.

"Idiot, come here." she said.

Gene was surprised when she suddenly hugged him. He was about to ask her if she was feeling alright, but when he felt warmth surging back into his body he relaxed and hugged her back, knowing that she was only trying to warm him up.

He wasn't disappointed at all.

The delusion was somewhat hereditary in his family. 

* * *

_Yokuda Mansion_

Mai watched the monitors that she was seated in front of once again. When she came back to the base with Bou-san she could feel the tense atmosphere in the room. She looked from one person to another, but none would meet her gaze.

She sighed tiredly, trying to see anything on the monitors. She was about to give up when something caught her eye.

"Lin-san. There is movement on monitor 4." She said and the Chinese man opened the feed on his laptop.

She was right. There was a shadow of a person clearing shown on the wall, yet there was no-one in the room.

"Takigawa, John-san, Hara-san." Naru began, but the two men had already left.

Takigawa and John were going to perform their exorcisms there and Masako would tell them if the ghost was gone or not. 

* * *

"Are you sure Hara-san?" Naru asked, tapping his pen on the cover of his book.

"Yes. There was absolutely no spiritual presence." She answered, her sleeve covering her mouth.

Naru frowned while Mai watched the girl in confusion. Something was definitely wrong, they had all seen the shadow on the wall.

"Mai." She looked up at him upon hearing her name. "Call Gene and Hyuga-san, ask them when they will be back." He ordered, before exiting the room.

The girl nodded, pulling out her phone. 

* * *

_She was in the closet, shivering fearfully. It was dark inside and the bad people were in the house. Her mommy had hidden her inside and forbidden her to leave, but she wanted to. She knew something bad was going to happen and she just wanted to go and hug her mommy and daddy._

_But she knew that mommy would be angry if she left her hiding place._

_She heard screams and angry shouts, so she covered her ears and closed her eyes, praying that it would all end soon._

* * *

_Gene and Cat_

It was past midnight as Cat and Gene began driving to the address Mai had given them. They had waited to see if the ghost would appear again, but when everything remained normal and Gene didn't lapse into a zombie-like state again they decided that it would be safe to close the case.

Cat looked through the side window before breaking the silence.

"Was the death of the girl terrifying?" She asked and Gene flicked his gaze to her for a moment.

"No, it was quick. She didn't really feel anything." He answered, slightly confused by her question. "Why did you ask?"

"You looked terrified when you were staring at the lake." She answered, watching him closely.

There it was again. That sad look on her face that she was unaccustomed to. For a moment she wondered if he would even respond.

"Remember when I told you I died once?" He asked and she nodded.

Back then she had assumed he was joking.

"You see, a few years ago I was a victim of a hit and run. I fell into a river and if it wasn't for the fisherman there I would have drowned. Even so, I experience clinical death and was in a coma for the better part of two years. Everyone thought I was dead; that was why Noll came to Japan." He explained briefly, not really wanting to go into any detail. "Since then I haven't exactly been very... fond... of water."

Cat watched him for a moment. He didn't look at her, instead keeping his gaze fixed on the road. He was often forced to explain this to people who knew him and who had been affected by his disappearance and he hated the pity they showed him. He had, however, learned to mask it well.

"... you are more like a zombie than I thought."

He almost crashed the car into a tree.

"Idiot, look out!" 

* * *

_Even with her ears covered she could hear the loud bangs and the sound of something hitting the ground. There was a strange smell in the air. It only served to terrify her further._

_After some time she removed her hands from her ears. There was only silence._

_So she opened her eyes._

_Through the crack in the closet door she could see her mother..._

_...who lay in a pool of blood, lifeless eyes staring directly at her daughter._

* * *

"Mommy!" Mai shot up in her bed, screaming bloody murder.

Cat, who had been trying to move about as quietly as possible, almost jumped out of her skin, and she could swear that her heart momentarily stopped beating.

Masako and Ayako woke with a start, looking around in confusion.

One look at Mai's face told them all they needed to know. Ayako quickly climbed out of her bed and ran over to comfort the crying girl, whereas Masako simply observed disinterestedly.

The red-headed woman looked at Cat and she nodded before exiting the room to fetch Naru.

"It's okay Mai, don't cry." She muttered soothingly, running her hand over her hair and kissing the younger girl's head. "We're right here."

It wasn't the first time she had had to comfort Mai after a vision.

Mai cried for the girl in the vision; for her pain, fear and loss. She could relate to it somehow, she knew what the girl felt.

When Naru and the rest of the guys arrived with Cat and Masoka in tow she was slowly calming down. Takigawa sat next to her on the other side of the bed and put his hand on her back in a silent show of support.

There was a moment of silence as everyone gave the girl a moment to collect herself. Naru shot Madoka an angry look, as it saying 'are you happy now?'

John, who had the misfortune of standing between them, almost shrank back in fear of the anger radiating from Naru.

"Mai, are you alright?" Ayako asked, and the girl nodded her head, before lifting it from the woman's shoulder.

"You had another dream." Naru stated rather than asked, but Mai nodded anyway. "Do you want to tell us about it now or wait until morning?"

Several of the occupants of the room stared at him in surprise, but no-one commented.

"Now, I don't want to have to remember it again later on." She answered quietly, moving away from the woman's side and sitting straighter. She promised herself that she would be strong.

So she told them, shivering slightly when she remembered the feelings that had suffocated her in the dream. Naru's frown deepened upon seeing her face. He knew that she was remembering her own past after the loss of her parents.

He wondered to himself just how much Mai would get hurt before the case was over._  
_


	30. I want my Mommy III

"The first family to disappear, the Mauzuki, moved in soon after the war ended." Madoka commented, studying the board.

They were all standing in the base, looking at the board of information which Mai, Cat, Gene and Takigawa composed from journals and newspapers supplied by the current owners. Photographs of the families and their respective dates of arrival and disappearance were organised in a chronological order so that there was some sort of order to the research. Naru hated it when things were chaotic which, considering the people that his team consisted of, happened quite often.

"We should look for clues in Mai's dreams, they've always been useful before." John suggested.

"Mai, what do you think?" Naru looked at her and the girl almost died choking on her tea in shock.

She blinked at her boss. Did he just ask for her opinion? The world was surely about to end.

"If that question is too much for your brain to handle I will gladly take it back."

"No, thank you." She mumbled through gritted teeth. Although she really didn't want to, she concentrated on trying to remember the dreams. "Both of them were about parents, I think. The voice from the sphere was talking about 'Mommy' and 'Daddy', while the other dream was about a young girl who had just lost her parents."

Naru nodded, turning to the board once more.

"We should concentrate on the history of the house before 1945. More specifically, the last family to live here before the Mauzuki. Lin, check to see if anyone from this family survived and find out if they had a daughter who could have witnessed the events from Mai's dream. Try to find out what happened to her after that. Madoka will help you." He ordered, shifting his gaze to another family on the board. "The fourth owners, the Yujuki, were the only ones without kids. They disappeared just a few days after moving in."

"Four days. It was just after their wedding. When they suddenly stopped calling their parents, they came here to check up on them. The house was empty but their things still inside." Cat explained, reading from a newspaper article regarding the incident.

"The others generally lasted for a few months. The record is held by the last family, they lived here for over a year." Takigawa added, looking sadly upon the smiling faces of the kids in one of the photographs.

"There haven't been any records of ghost activity within the house, right?"

"Nope. In one diary there was a mention of whispers and strange sounds, but the owners dismissed it as a side-effect of the age of the building." Gene answered his brother.

Naru was silent for a moment, staring at the board.

"Keep reading. Write down anything that could be important." He instructed the four designated to collecting information.

The unlucky four sighed tiredly. They hated it, but somehow they always got landed with information duty.

"Matsuzaki-san, Hara-san, please go help Yumo-san with dinner." He said.

The redhead stared at him.

"Why do we have to do it?" She complained. It wasn't that she had issues with helping the owner, but she hated housework.

"At your age, Matsuzaki-san, you should at least have some theoretical knowledge of a housewife's job." Was his answer. Naru then left the room.

* * *

When Mai woke from a dreamless sleep in the middle of the night she was surprised. It had been a long time since she last had a truly dreamless sleep. Not that she was complaining, but it was a nice change. She only hoped that it would stay that way for a while. There were enough problems in her life without the dreams.

Glancing at her clock she noted that it was only three in the morning, but she was thirsty. She hesitated for a moment, but eventually stood and wandered down to the kitchen. Since there weren't any ghosts attacking from the shadows on their current case she could walk around alone. Well, Naru hadn't actually given them permission to be alone, but it was a logical conclusion. Plus, she didn't want to wake up any of her roommates. They always had problems sleeping on cases due to her nightmares, so she would let them sleep while they could.

Though she had been certain that everyone was asleep, she stumbled across a surprise in the kitchen.

"What are you doing here alone?" Naru asked, watching her with a brow raised in question.

She shrugged and massaged the back of her neck.

"Well, technically you never said it wasn't allowed, so..." She said but his eyebrow didn't drop. "I-I just wanted some water." She explained hurriedly, moving towards the shelf that held the cups. The room was silent as she picked a cup, filled it with water and took a sip, but she could feel his eyes on her back, boring holes in her. It was uncomfortable, especially with her mind deciding to replay the scene from all those weeks ago.

"You can't sleep?" He asked out of the blue, causing her to turn around.

He almost looked concerned, but she was certain it was just her imagination and the fact that she had only just woken up.

"No, I was just thirsty." She answered, and silence descended on the kitchen once more. "W-well I'll just go back to bed."

She put the cup back and headed towards the door.

"Mai." She stopped, turning to look at him, wondering what Naru could possibly want with her. "Tea."

She almost fell over in shock when she processed his demand. He must really be addicted if he wanted tea so early in the morning. And making her do it!

"Now."

She huffed but complied, moving over to the stove to prepare his drink, muttering things like 'addicted bastard' under her breath.

She just loved him so much then.

Waiting for the water to boil she turned around and leaned on the counter, glaring daggers at her boss who sat innocently at the kitchen table.

"Why are you here anyway?" She finally asked, getting annoyed at the silence. It was especially bad at night, when every little sound and silence seemed a thousand times louder.

"Couldn't sleep." Naru admitted, resting his hands on the table.

He had tried to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes his mind was assaulted with thoughts of Mai and the dangers this case could pose. If they really were facing another person possessed by a demon it had the potential to end so much worse than the case at Shoma school. He hadn't yet voiced any of his suspicions to his employees, not wanting to frighten them.

He knew however that he would have to do it soon. They had to be ready to take action at any moment. Especially Gene, who would be able to notice if anything changed in the house's atmosphere. He was still the best medium he knew, thanks to his experience in the field of ghosts. He hadn't done it yet, wanting his brother to have the chance to calm down somewhat after the water incident; he didn't want his judgement clouded by memories.

Not that he cared, of course.

He would also notify Hyuga, in case they had to recreate what they did to destroy the previous stone. Still, it would be incredibly dangerous for everyone to go through with it again. For the girl, since he was certain she would end up in hospital again, and for the others, as their powers could go out of control.

And he hated asking for help.

"Hello, Earth to Naru." Mai's voice pulled him from his musings.

He blinked and looked up as she placed a cup of tea before him.

"Jeez, don't space out like that." She said, pouting slightly. For a moment she thought he had fallen asleep. "It's creepy."

"It's called thinking Mai. Other people who actually use their minds don't find it creepy."

She seriously considered pouring the tea on him.

"Have you had any dreams?" He asked her suddenly.

She shook her head.

"No, tonight has been the first calm night in a long time." She answered honestly.

Naru furrowed his brow, thinking over her statement.

"A long time?" He repeated her words and she blushed, realising her slip up. "What do you mean by that?"

She looked to the side, avoiding meeting his eyes. She couldn't lie to save her life, especially to Naru. His eyes always seemed as though they could see into her soul, making it impossible for her to think of a believable lie.

"Mai, I just asked you a question."

Stubbornly she kept her mouth shut. Naru sighed.

"You can either tell me willingly or I can force it out of you." He said in a voice that promised she couldn't escape.

Mai knew that tone. He often used it while interrogating clients when he knew they were hiding something. She had never liked this tone of voice. It gave her chills. And knowing Naru, he would come up with thousands of ways to make her talk.

"I-It's just... sometimes I have bad dreams..." She halted, hoping it was enough to satisfy his unusual curiosity.

"How often is 'sometimes'?" He continued, watching her carefully.

She hesitated again.

"Mai..."

"Almost every night?" She answered nervously, it coming out as a question rather than an answer. He furrowed his brows again and she looked away from his piercing gaze.

"What are these dreams about?"

She shrugged.

"It's not about the cases, so you don't have to worry about it." She mumbled, a frown marring her face.

"I asked, so I expect an answer." He informed her, leaning over the table towards her. Mai blushed red when his face was suddenly hovering much closer.

"S-sometimes I dream about the red eyes, the eyes of that demon we killed." She answered truthfully.

She had talked about it with Cat, and it helped her to some extent, but something told her that telling Naru would be different, that it was more important. She didn't know why, but it was as if something had broken inside her. So she continued.

"The dreams always make me feel terrified and scared, especially when someone dies. I feel so useless, because I can't do anything to help them. I can only watch as one of my friends die and I can't even move a finger. I know it's something I can't control and that it's not something I should feel guilty over, Cat explained that to me, but still... it's irritating and horrible to watch one of you die!" She didn't even notice when tears started dripping down her cheeks. "And other times I see my parents. But when I reach out to them they keep getting further and further away, and no matter how much I try and I can never reach them. It's just so depressing, and I feel so lonely after that, that..."

She was openly crying now. The feelings were coming back to her with a vengeance and she just wanted to sit on the floor and hug herself tightly. She didn't want to feel it again, she just wanted to disappear, to be somewhere far away from the pain and loneliness.

She was shocked beyond reason when a pair of strong arms encircled her shoulders and pulled her face into a warm chest. For a moment she stopped crying, unsure of what was happening.

There were holes in Mai's short outburst, things purposefully left unsaid, but Naru didn't ask. He knew what she was going through. Watching someone close dying was heartbreaking. He knew from his own experience, after he watched Gene drowning.

"Stupid." Naru said softly, allowing her to cry into his shirt.

Mai hit him lightly on the chest with her hand, still crying. She bared her soul for him and he insulted her?

"You are stupid." He confirmed, in case she hadn't understood. She cried harder and he sighed. "You're stupid for thinking that you are alone. Takigawa, Matsuzaki, Gene, Hyuga, Ha-..." He stopped himself at Masako. Even he knew that the relationship between the two was poor. "They all care about you. And I... they wouldn't allow you to get hurt." He corrected himself quickly. Mai wanted to look up at him, but the hand he had on her head prevented that particular movement.

Why was he even concerned with making her feel better? He told himself that it was because she wouldn't be able to work as efficiently if she was thinking about her dreams.

Mai wanted to comment on his slip-up and about the fact that he had comforted her, which was very un-Naru like behaviour.

But she didn't. She just kept crying.

* * *

It was around four wen Naru found himself carrying a sleeping Mai to her room. He should have just left her in the kitchen seeing as she was stupid enough to fall asleep on him.

After she stopped crying she refused to let go of him. And he, sighing tiredly, complied.

But when she snuggled her face into his neck he forgot all of the reasons he had made concerning why he should have abandoned her.

He slipped into the girls' room as quietly as he could. It required some extreme maneuvering to open the door with Mai in his arms, but he couldn't just leave her on the floor, could he? The idiot would probably get sick.

He waited for a moment in the doorway to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness before moving inside and placing Mai on her bed. There were still tear streaks on her cheeks and her eyes were a little puffy, but she looked peaceful otherwise.

"What's goin' on?" A sleepy voice asked and he turned around to see Cat who raised her head from her pillow, rubbing her eyes.

"Nothing, go back to sleep." He told her in his boss voice, walking towards the door.

The girl let her head fall back down, not bothering to wonder what he was doing in their room in the middle of the night. That was fine with him.

"Oh, and Hyuga?"

"Hm?" This time her voice was slightly angry.

"I have to talk to you in the morning." He said, before closing the door.

He had to know why no-one told him about Mai's nightmares.

* * *

In the morning the first person he sought out was Gene, whom he informed about his suspicions that the case may be connected to the Stone. His brother was obviously not happy about it, but he didn't complain too much. There was no sense in putting any blame on Naru, because he couldn't possibly know or be certain. Since Madoka wasn't around - she was currently out collecting information for them - Gene couldn't even talk to her about his case.

Naru should have known that Cat wouldn't remember their talk. In the rather short amount of time he had known the girl for he had noticed that she had some of the strangest sleeping habits he had ever come across. He had experienced it first-hand after all. Gene had called her up in the middle of the night, woken her up, and had a conversation with her. The next day she had absolutely no recollection of the call ever happening, and it was only her call history that convinced her Gene wasn't making it all up. There was also the time she fell asleep in the middle of a sentence, when he had been dragged by his brother and the rest of the team to some 'integration' party.

So it shouldn't have come as a surprise when, upon demanding that they talk, she simply stared at him in surprise.

Naru dragged her out of the house, not wanting anyone to hear their conversation.

"So, what's this all about?" She asked, slightly irritated that he had forced her from the warm house.

"It's about the case." Cat perked up some, suddenly more interested in their conversation. "It might be worse than we originally thought."

"How much worse?"

"Very. There is a good possibility that we aren't dealing with a ghost at all, but something else entirely." She seemed confused, stuffing her hands in her pockets to warm them up.

"What do you... No." She protested suddenly, realising what he meant. "Tell me it's not what I think you mean."

"It is." He didn't understand the meaning of the word mercy.

She sighed. It was the very last thing she wanted to have to deal with. She'd had a hard time trying to get her powers back under control after she was forced to mix them with his the last time. That's why she spent time at her parent's house, to find a way to get them working how they were beforehand. It had been the first time she had been forced to cooperate like that with someone stronger than her, especially with having to channel their power.

"Do the others know?" She asked, glancing back at the house.

"Only a few of them. I don't want to cause a panic amongst them. I'm only telling you in case something happens suddenly." He answered.

She nodded her head. Although he left a lot unsaid she caught on to his underlying meaning. She already knew that she would have to protect Mai, as the girl seemed to attract the worst sort of trouble wherever she went.

"And you dragged me all the way out here just for that?" It wasn't that she didn't understand the importance of the situation, but surely he could have told her inside.

"No. I have another question that I didn't want anyone to overhear." He answered and stared straight at her.

Cat was suddenly hit with the knowledge of just how different his eyes were compared to Gene's.

"Why didn't you tell me about Mai's nightmares?"

Cat stared at him in shocked silence for a moment, confused by the seemingly irrelevant and out of the blue question.

"How do you know about them?" She asked instead of answering.

"She told me, now answer my question."

"Why should I?"

Naru raised a brow at her.

"She is my subordinate." He answered, voice icy.

"If she's only your subordinate then there's not reason for you to be concerned with her dreams outside of work, right?" She asked, cold eyes searching his expression.

He was silent for a moment. Her statement was completely logical after all. Why should he be concerned with Mai's personal nightmares if they weren't connected to the case?

"I asked a question, answer it." He demanded again.

"I can't see any reason why I should." She responded.

"As her boss I am concerned that her unstable emotional state could have negative influences on her work." He said, deciding that it was a reasonable enough answer.

Cat looked at him incredulously before glaring at him.

"Then I still don't see a reason to tell you."

"I'm your boss. As my subordinate you have to answer my question." He said, beginning to get irritated.

"As your subordinate I have to answer your questions about our work, not about the private lives of other employees." She shot back at him.

Naru wanted to strangle her. Seriously, what did his brother see in her?

Because it worked both ways; if Gene could read his mind, he could read Gene's.

"Naru, Cat, there is..." Takigawa almost shrieked like a girl at the glares he received from two of them. "... it can wait..." He backed away towards the building.

They resumed glaring at each other.

"I demand answers." He said again.

"that's your problem, not mine."

There was a long moment of silence before she sighed.

"Naru, I know you care about her, but as long as you continue hurting her by ignoring the obvious I won't tell you anything." She said finally, turning to go inside.

He furrowed his brows, staring after her.

"What do you mean?"

She stopped in her tracks, turning to stare seriously back at him.

"You aren't stupid, you should know already. Mai is an emotional girl who is easily influenced by events that surround her. She is strong, she tries to remain strong all the time, but how long is she going to last if there's no-one strong enough to support her? You're her pillar, and you know that. I know what you did last night and I respect you for helping her, but I have a question. Was it only because you didn't want her mind clouded during the case, or was it because you really care about?" She asked before heading back inside, not waiting for an answer.

It was freaking cold.

Naru clenched his fists. He knew what Cat meant, and it really tugged his heartstrings when he saw Mai's tear-streaked face in his mind.

No matter how he looked at it he knew that it wasn't because he was worried about her concentration on the case. Her tears and that sad expressions of hers pierced his dead heart painfully.

* * *

"Do you think they're going to kill each other?" Ayako asked, watching the two teens carefully through the window.

"My brother can be a bit sadistic sometimes, but sure he's not a murderer." Gene replied, watching the exaggerated behaviour of his co-workers from the couch.

"More importantly, what are they talking about?"

"Who do you think would win if they started fighting, Cat or Naru?" Takigawa asked suddenly, sparking a debate.

Sometimes Gene really couldn't believe how those two acted. He waited for them to start a betting pool. It didn't take long, since Ayako and Takigawa were already pulling out money.

"What are you doing?" Silence fell upon the room as Cat entered, staring at them all in amusement.

* * *

_A/N: So, the next chapter is up. And, following you advise, I will keep Cat's character at the level it's now, but I just had to have her confront Naru, it was in my mind for longer time. Sorry if there was some OOCness in it, but please bear with it._

_Like always, thanks to my beta, Dark Akuma Hunter. _

_Hope you like. _


	31. I Want My Mommy IV

_A/N: I can't really say how sorry I am for taking so long to update. Personal reasons, writing diploma paper, exams, university mayhem- it all didn't really allow me to have much free time. _

_I am really so so so so so sorry. I hope that you will forgive me and continue reading my story ^^"  
_

_And as always I want to thank my beta, dark akuma hunter, for fixing my mistakes.  
_

* * *

When night fell over the mansion, everyone moved to their respective rooms in order to get some sleep. They hadn't made as much progress as they would have liked to, because so far nothing had happened. No strange appearances, no noises, nothing. Naru was getting more and more irritated every day. He was worried that the danger hiding somewhere in the shadows of the house was much greater than they were expecting. It was all he could do to hope that everyone would come through it unscathed.

In the middle of the night Ayako woke up, thirsty. She reached for the bottle of water she always kept beside her bed and growled in frustration when she couldn't find it. Mumbling angrily she climbed out of her bed, deciding to head for the kitchen in order to find something to drink.

She glanced over at the girls she was sharing the room with, wondering if she should wake them up. But they both looked so peaceful that she couldn't bring herself to disturb them. There hadn't been any ghost activity after all, so she wouldn't be in danger... right?

She was in the middle of the hallway when something caught her attention. Pausing, she looked around, but nothing was there. Ayako shrugged before continuing her journey to the kitchen.

Lin raised his eyes from his book when unexpected movement on one of the monitors caught his attention. Seeing the red-headed woman alone in the corridor drew a raised brow. He watched her head towards the kitchen, when all of a sudden the monitor died, leaving him staring at his own reflection.

He stood quickly and, without much thought, left the room. In his mind he was praying for it to be a simple case of equipment malfunction, but a small part of him was convinced he wasn't going to like what he found.

* * *

_Mommy... Daddy... Come back. Where are you?_

_Overwhelming sadness gripped the child's heart, her young mind unable to understand why her parents would leave her all alone. They had been with her only a few days ago, right? So why was it, then, that the old lady had come to her house, claiming she was to be taken away, away from the house she shared with her parents? She didn't want to go._

_She wanted to stay._

_She wanted her Mommy and Daddy to be with her._

_She wanted her Mommy to hug her and her Daddy to play with her._

_But no matter how much she called out for them they never came._

* * *

Mai awoke filled with an incredible sense of sadness, still tainted by the overwhelming emotions coming from the child in her dream. Sitting up she looked to the side, seeing Cat asleep with her hand pressed underneath her cheek. Mai was surprised to discover Ayako's bed was empty. It was highly unusual for the redhead to go out during the night.

That was when she heard a commotion outside her room. Not giving it much thought she moved over to the door and peeked out into the hallway, trying to gauge what was going on.

"Mai, why are you out of bed?" She heard the sound of her boss' voice and turned around to see him standing just down the hall with Lin and Gene.

Seeing the worry painted across the faces of the older twin and the Chinese man she was struck by a sudden fearfulness. Naru was as unreadable as always.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice betraying her own worry.

Naru exchanged a quick glance with Gene, who nodded.

"Mai, come with me to the base. There is something I need to tell you." The younger twin answered, already moving towards the base with Lin, fully expecting her to follow.

And she did. Glancing back over her shoulder she noticed Gene entering the room she had just left. She suspected he was going to wake Cat.

"Naru, did something happen?" she asked, looking at his back.

He didn't answer until they were gathered in the base. Taking his usual seat he watched as Mai sat down on the nearest free seat, the couch opposite him.

"Mai, Matsuzaki-san went missing half an hour ago." He told her, watching her face carefully. At first she seemed not to understand. "Lin spotted her on the monitors heading for the kitchen, but then it cut out. When he arrived on the scene she was nowhere to be found. We inspected the corridors while Gene investigated the area of her disappearance. There was evidence of a slight supernatural presence near the kitchen, but other than that we didn't find anything."

When what Naru told her finally sunk in Mai's hands travelled up to cover her mouth, muffling the startled gasp she let out. Naru's lips formed a thin line as he observed her reaction. He knew Mai was close to Ayako, and that she treated the woman as an older sister or even a mother figure, so he knew her disappearance would affect Mai deeply. That was the main reason he decided to tell her separately, rather than with the others.

He was a little surprised by how Takigawa had reacted to the news; as soon as he found out he'd grabbed John and gone to search the corridors.

"S-she was kidnapped by whatever it is haunting this house?" Mai asked, voice shaking.

"That's what we suspect at any rate." He answered truthfully. "However, since up until this point it has only been members of the Howle family that have fallen victim to the presence, there is a chance that Matsuzaki-san is alive somewhere. We're going to search the grounds as soon as possible."

The thought gave Mai an inkling of relief. However, the thought of Ayako sitting somewhere all along, possibly wounded and likely scared, caused tears to well up in her eyes.

Naru, seeing it, couldn't help himself. Silently, he moved to sit next to Mai, putting his hand on her shoulder in a show of comfort. When she suddenly turned and buried her face in his chest Naru stiffened in surprise, but allowed her to cry into his chest for the second time this case.

* * *

Cat woke when she felt someone shaking her arm. She blinked, momentarily disoriented, before her eyes focussed on the face above her.

"If this is about hot chocolate again I'm going back to sleep." she said sleepily, remembering the last time Gene had woken her in the middle of the night. When she caught a glimpse of his serious expression she knew it wasn't so trivial. "What happened?" She asked, shifting so that she was sitting up in her bed.

"Ayako is missing." He answered her, all hints of humour gone.

She stared at him for a moment before cursing under her breath and standing up. Gene sat down on Mai's vacant bed.

"Mai is in the base with Noll." He answered, responding to the unspoken question present in Cat's confused look. "We have to decide what to do."

Cat grabbed a blouse from beside her bed and pulled it on. Seeing Mai's robe still sitting on her bed she took that as well.

"My brother told you his thoughts about what might be haunting this house, right?" he asked, his gaze locked on her.

For the first time Cat found herself face to face with an absolutely serious Gene. She noticed his eyes had the same sharpness to them as his brother's, and she found she preferred him better when he was joking around.

"Yeah, he told me it might be another demon." she answered.

"Will you be able to transform Noll's powers again?" he asked, still watching her.

She shrugged.

"Yeah. I've done it before, haven't I?"

"And you wound up in hospital in a coma." he reminded her, and she raised a brow in surprise.

"Well, yeah. Naru's stronger than I am and has more spiritual energy. I wasn't prepared for it, took too much of his energy during the transfer, and it damaged my body. We didn't know each others capabilities back then, and so we couldn't control it." She explained, sitting down opposite him. "I explained things to Naru before I started working here. He is aware that, should the need arise once more, he needs to have more control of himself while we work."

For some reason Gene didn't seem completely satisfied with her answer. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. He hesitated for a moment and ran his hand through his hair.

"Listen, the presence I felt was stronger than the one we encountered at your old school." He informed her. "Naru knows about it. We don't know as much as we would like about the contrahere lapidiem, but, logically speaking, you would likely require more energy this time around to destroy it. That's why I'm asking if you'll be able to handle it."

There was a moment's silence as Cat thought over everything she had been told.

"We won't know until we try, right?" She answered, looking him straight in the eyes and not turning away.

He sighed and stood up.

"Just... Don't land yourself in the hospital again."

Cat nodded and followed him from the room. She wondered for a moment about his change of behaviour, but her mind quickly refocused on the problem at hand. Ayako.

* * *

"We'll be dividing into two groups. Takigawa, Mai, Brown-san and Lin will be searching the inside of the house. Check every single room and behind every door. Gene, Hyuga-san and I will check outside. There is always a possibility we could find something on the grounds. Everyone is to have their phones on them at all times. Contact me if anything catches your attention, no matter what it is."

The atmosphere in the base was tense and tinged with sadness. It reminded Mai of the time Masako had gone missing, only this time was even worse. Takigawa, who was leaning against the wall, hadn't said a single thing, and it would have been hard to miss the tenseness in Gene's shoulders as he entered the room. No one was in a mood to joke. It wasn't often that things like this happened, and the possibility of losing Ayako forever was a depressing weight on their minds. She had calmed down after her initial outburst, ashamed that she had acted weak in front of Naru again. She tried to remind herself that they were all strong and capable in their own ways, so they might be able to rescue Ayako before it was too late, just like they had rescued her.

Naru would have been happier having Mai on his own team. Logically though he realised that both teams required a medium, and he was certain that Lin would be more capable of protecting her than he would be. Based on Mai's dream from after the case at Shoma High School, he suspected that the demon would go after himself and Hyuga, seeing as it was them who had proven capable of destroying the stone. Also, the house seemed clean once more, with Gene unable to sense anything lingering there. It would be safer for Mai to stay inside. Plus, if something _did_ happen to them that left Hyuga and himself unable to protect themselves, Gene had a better chance of contacting someone.

Still, he didn't feel right without Mai by his side. He glanced towards Lin; words weren't necessary, the Chinese man knew what to do.

Naru looked at the map in his hands. He had to admit, seeing now that the forest was actually part of the property, that the grounds were rather expansive. He could feel a headache coming on. He'd already contacted Madoka, informing her of the situation and instructing her to meet them. She ought to be able to get there in time to help them out. She had mentioned something about bringing someone with her, but he hadn't paid much attention to it.

He had instructed Yoma-san to leave the mansion for the time being, not wanting to put her in unnecessary danger. He'd considered sending Mai away with her, but knew from experience that his assistant was too stubborn to listen to his reasons.

"Where do we start?" Cat asked, looking around. The area was undoubtedly too large for three people to easily search. Thankfully the sun was already coming up; they would have been completely useless in the dark.

She watched as Gene closed his eyes, concentrating. She and Naru waited patiently.

"There is a slight disturbance in the forest over on the left side of the building." He said finally, after a period of expectant silence. Naru had learned quite some time ago to trust his brother's instincts when it came to directions.

They travelled in silence, until it was broken by Cat.

"I have a question," She began, and continued when two pairs of matching blue eyes turned to her, "You're able to use your powers to locate a person if you're holding something that belongs to them, right?" She asked, recalling an article she had read about a missing girl. Naru nodded. "Can't you just do that now?"

"I've already tried," He admitted, "All I can see is darkness."

"That doesn't mean Ayako is…" She started saying, but couldn't bring herself to finish voicing the thought.

"No. There is a high chance that it is simply the demon blocking me."

The three of them paused mid-step when a rustling sound caught their attention. They looked around, but they couldn't see anything among the trees.

"Something is here." Gene said suddenly, and Naru and Cat stiffened. "A ghost."

And, true to his words, a figure appeared between the trees. It was a woman with brown hair, but they didn't get a chance to see anything more, as she disappeared immediately.

"Do you think it was one of the victims?" Cat asked after a few moment of silence, as they waited for something else to happen. Judging by the way Gene was holding himself, the ghost was still out there somewhere.

"It's possible." He answered.

The trio took a step back in surprise when the figure suddenly appeared directly in front of them. Cat stifled a scream, and her foot caught on something as she backed away, causing her to fall.

Naru kept his eyes trained on the ghostly figure, ready for whatever it planned on doing. He was mildly surprised when it simply disappeared again.

"It's gone this time." Gene said, turning around to help Cat to her feet. "You okay?" He asked once she was standing.

"I'm fine." She answered, and bent down to pick up the thing she had tripped over. She furrowed her brows as she realised it was some sort of hard-back notebook. Opening it she discovered it was someone's journal. "Do you think the ghost wanted us to find this?" She asked the twins who were watching her.

"Possibly." Gene answered. "Maybe it will have some clues."


	32. I want my Mommy V

A/N: Yes, I'm surprised too, but I have finished another chapter. :D

* * *

_Ihave to admit I'm no longer sure if moving to the mansion was such a great idea._

_The bills haven't been as high as I was expecting, which is rather suspicious considering the size of the house and grounds, but that isn't really the problem. There is something wrong with this house. Every time I try to bring it up with my husband he simply laughs it off, saying it's just my hormones affecting my imagination. He never takes my worries seriously. Though I truthfully haven't talked to my mother about the pregnancy yet..._

_But back the matter at hand. I woke up last night around 3AM due to the storm raging outside, and I swear there was something near the window watching us sleep! I could see the figure in the shadows, especially when lightning lit up the room. When I woke my husband he ignored me, saying I was having strange dreams again. But I'm certain the child I saw was real. At least, I think it was a child, considering their small stature. I have never been the sort to believe in ghost stories, but after only a few days living here I'm starting to change my mind._

_To put it simply, either this house is haunted or I'm slowly going crazy._

_The first day, when I discovered I was pregnant, I could have sworn I heard someone laughing in joy behind me, but when I turned around there was no-one there. In the beginning I labelled it as a figment of my imagination, because really, who is there to laugh in an empty house? But when I started noticing the sound of running footsteps when I was alone I changed my mind. Once or twice I also spotted someone running around the forest when I was outside, but upon closer inspection I couldn't find anyone. Though that may have been the neighbour's child, I heard she likes to play in the forest._

_Also, there's something off with the paintings. Whenever I look at the paintings I think I can see a shadow in the background, usually in the same place in all three of them. When I mention it to my husband he says that nothing is there and I should spend some time outside. Idiot. When my gaze lingered on one of the paintings the shadow appeared to start growing, as though it were coming closer. It almost gave me a heart attack, but it was over as quickly as it began._

_Maybe I really am going crazy, but the feeling that we aren't alone here is too overwhelming to ignore. Especially now that I know what happened to the first family that lived here. The poor souls, getting shot in their own home. I tried to get in contact with the last three families to live here, but the real-estate agent said they had moved abroad and she didn't have any way of contacting them._

* * *

"That's the final entry. And the only one about the mansion in general." Cat said, flipping through the remaining pages of the notebook. They were empty.

They were still moving through the forest, following Gene's intuition for directions. Naru had decided to inspect every little supernatural trace Gene could detect, even if he would normally ignore the lesser ones, marking every point they checked on his map. But this time one of the team members was missing, he couldn't afford to let anything slip his notice. In the meantime Cat had been ordered to read through the journal, reading the last entry aloud.

"It at least confirms our suspicion that there is definitely something in the house." Naru commented, marking another point on the map.

"But why was she the only one to notice anything strange?" Gene asked.

"Maybe she was a medium? It would explain why she could detect the abnormalities while her husband remained ignorant." The girl answered, closing the journal and slipping it inside her pocket.

"The fact that she was pregnant might be an important factor here." Naru commented suddenly.

"The fourth family that moved here was the only one without children. It's been confirmed that the ghost had, up until now, only been interested in couples and families. There is a possibility that the prospect of a new addition to the family excited the ghost enough for it to become careless."

"Wouldn't it have been more logical to wait until the baby was born? That way the family would have been whole." Cat suggested.

"It's possible. We don't have enough facts yet to give us a clear answer." He answered, folding up the map. "Gene?"

His brother shook his head.

"There's nothing else here. A few more minor distortions, but nothing that could even possibly be considered a poltergeist." He answered, sighing tiredly. They had been traversing the grounds for a while now, and he'd been using his powers the entire time.

The sound of Naru's phone ringing interrupted the heavy silence in the forest. He checked the caller ID before answering.

"What is it?"

"_We checked the mansion, it's clear. Matsuzaki-san was nowhere to be found, and Taniyama-san had another vision._"

"Mai managed to sleep during the investigation of the house?" Naru asked with a raised brow, gaining the attention of his two companions.

"_No, this time she was conscious._"

"We'll be there shortly." Naru answered before hanging up.

* * *

"I was standing in the kitchen doorway. I wasn't myself; I was thinking and feeling as someone else, as a child." Mai explained when they were all seated in the base. The atmosphere was even more tense than it had been before, seeing as they hadn't made any progress. "There was a woman standing by the sink, I couldn't see what she was doing. Suddenly she turned around and smiled brightly. I was about to smile too, but some other kid ran past me, and it turned out the smile wasn't directed at me at all. I felt so... angry, and so sad at that moment. I wanted to be the one she was smiling at." She stopped for a moment to collect herself. The case was bringing back a lot of the things she herself had felt, especially after the deaths of her parents. "All I could think about was the fact that I would have a mummy who smiled at me like that too. Only I couldn't figure out what the child mean by that."

Naru pinched the bridge of his nose. Something told him everything was only going to get worse before it got better. He could only hope they would be able to find Matsuzaki-san quickly so they could get far away from there. One part of him was seriously considering just abandoning the case and burning the mansion down to be done with it. But he knew they couldn't do that, at least not yet. If the red-headed miko was still alive it would be sentencing her to death. He didn't want to do that. He may often come across as a cold bastard, but that didn't mean that he was incapable of feeling.

"Is there anything else you saw that may have been important?" He asked his assistant. At least they now had some sort of idea about the ghost's motives; thanks to Mai's dream Naru could deduct that the ghost's actions were based on a primal desire for parents. The theory was more or less definite at that point.

When Mai shook her head he was silent for a moment before telling the rest of the team about the journal they found in the forest.

"At least we know that there _is_ a ghost here. Or a demon." Takigawa commented, sitting on the sofa with his arms folded. He was still quite angry with Naru for not warning them sooner about the danger associated with the case, and his anger was being fuelled by the fact that Ayako was still missing, possibly dead.

"There were lots of mentions of the paintings in the journal." Cat said, putting the notebook on the table so the others could read it. "The Yoma's haven't gotten rid of them, right? It would at least be somewhere to start." She added, not knowing what else they could do.

The alarms and monitors hadn't registered anything, neither had Gene and Mai's powers. They were working in a blind spot now.

"From what they said, all of the portraits were put into storage in the basement." Naru answered. "Mai, on our first day here you said you thought you had seen something off about the painting in the hall. What was it?"

Mai looked at him for a moment, startled, trying to remember what it was.

"I don't really know... There was just something _wrong_. At first it was the clothes, they didn't quite look right, but later I thought I saw something move. It might have been the lights though." She replied, shrugging her shoulders. It's not like he had taken her seriously back then.

"Maybe," He said, thinking about it. "Takigawa, Hyuga, Gene, go and retrieve the portraits from the basement and bring them outside so we can have a better look at them. It wasn't only Mai that noticed something odd about them. It can't be a coincidence."

The three chosen ones nodded and left the room without a word. The usual banter that would have erupted was conspicuously absent, and even Naru found that he missed it.

"Naru, what are we going to do now?"

That was the question he'd been worried someone would ask. He had no idea what to do now. Silence reigned for several minutes. When the sound of an engine poured in from outside Naru looked through the window and relaxed slightly, seeing Madoka's car.

"We've decided that the child wants its parents back, yes?" The until-now silent John asked suddenly, and Naru turned to look at him. "If we follow that line of thinking, wouldn't it be safe to assume that Ayako-san was taken in order to fulfil the role of mother?"

Naru nodded.

"I thought that too. It seems like the only logical explanation."

John furrowed his brows, but before he could say anything else the door opened, revealing Madoka. The two people accompanying her nearly made Naru spill his tea.

"Mother? Father?" He asked, causing John and Mai to turn, wide-eyed, to their unexpected guests.

* * *

Cat covered her nose with her sleeve to fend off the massive amount of dust that rose from the paintings. Luckily the basement was well-lit. It was a pleasant change from flash-lights and bumping into things in the dark.

"They're in very good condition." Gene commented, moving one of the portraits to reveal the one underneath.

"They were sitting down here for quite a while, but the colours don't appear to have dulled at all." Takigawa admitted. It was lucky that the paintings weren't too large. The two of them would be able to transport them outside without much trouble.

As per usual, Cat was watching their backs.

"It almost seems as though someone was taking care of them. But in the files it said that no-one's touched them since they were stored down here about twenty years ago, right?" She asked, using her other sleeve to wipe dust away from the surface of the painting.

Gene hummed in response, moving another portrait. He dropped it in surprise when something suddenly sprang from behind it, jumping in shock. Of course he'd never admit that it had scared the life out of him. Cat and Takigawa also stood up, ready to fight if something attacked.

It turned out the black kitten which jumped out from it's hiding place was more scared of them than they were of it.

There was a moment of silence.

"Oh God." Cat exclaimed, letting out the breath she had been holding. "I think I just had a heart attack." She massaged her chest gently.

"That makes two of us." Takigawa said, running a hand through his hair.

Gene laughed quietly, shaking his head. He only had a moment to freeze when something flared in his senses before he was struck hard in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious, deaf to the shouts of his two companions.

* * *

Mai was sitting nervously on the edge of the couch, having just been introduced to Naru's mother. The strange spark that lit up her eyes when the woman had heard her name made her rather uncomfortable, just like the sight of Luella Davis exchanging knowing looks with Madoka, who only smirked in response. Mai definitely felt like there was some inside joke shared by the two, and she didn't like being left out; especially when she knew it had something to do with her. She wished Cat was back, it would have been nice to have some company.

In the meantime, obviously not amused by the sudden appearance of his parents, Naru was talking with his father about their current case.

"Noll, where is Gene?" His mother interrupted them, completely ignoring the glare her son sent her. She'd had years of experience being at the receiving end of that look.

"Collecting evidence," was his brief reply and, when he refrained from saying anything else, the woman turned her attention to the girl next to her. "I'm sorry if my youngest son was a pain in the neck, I tried to teach him how to be nice to people, but he isn't particularly perceptive in those areas."

"Ah... t-that's fine." Mai said with a nervous laugh.

"I'm sure it is." There was that smirk again, before it disappeared as she turned serious once more. "How are you feeling? I heard that you were close to Matsuzaki-san." There was so much genuine worry in her voice that Mai had to take a moment to control her surprise.

"I'm fine, I think. I still believe that we'll find her." She answered eventually, trying to smile. "After all, we managed to get out in one piece from other dangerous situations, why should this one be any different?"

Luella really respected the girl sitting in front of her right then for trying to be brave, even if it was plain to see she was barely able to contain her worry. She noticed her youngest son watching the girl from the corner of his eyes, but he averted his glance as soon as he noticed her watching.

When it was all over she was going to have so much fun teasing him.

"So if the ghost took Ayako Matsuzaki as the mother, isn't it possible that it's going to look for someone to fulfil the role of the father?" Martin Davis asked, and all of them went stiff.

"Bou-san." Mai whispered, covering her mouth.

* * *

When they arrived in the basement Mai was praying in her head to every divine being she could think of that no-one was hurt. She really wouldn't be able to handle it if anything else happened to any of her friends.

"Gene!" The terrified gasp of Luella and Naru's sharp inhale nearly stopped her heart.

It truly did stop for a moment when she saw the inside of the basement. Gene was lying on the floor, unmoving, while Cat and Takigawa were nowhere to be seen. Without waiting for the rest of them to recover from the shock, Lin knelt down next to the fallen boy and turned him onto his back. When Gene gave a moan in response to the movement they all let out a sigh of relief. There was a smear of blood on his head. He opened his eyes and moaned again as the light hit his eyes. Mai wasn't quite sure, but she could have sworn that she heard a few curse words in English escape his mouth.

"Mom? Dad?" He asked, quite shocked as he noticed the two newcomers in the room. Perhaps he had hit his head harder than he thought?

"Yeah honey, we're here." Luella answered, moving closer and inspecting his head to check the damage. "That was quite a hit." She said when he hissed as she touched his wound. "What happened?"

Gene furrowed his brows for a moment, trying to concentrate. Suddenly he looked around. "Where are Cat and Bou-san?" He asked, and it was only then that Naru realised the others were missing.

* * *

A/N: I hope that you like the little surprise that were Naru's and Gene's parents ^^"


	33. I want my Mommy VI

_A/N: That's me again, surprised? Because I am XD _

_I answered most of your questions in private messages, but the question I couldn't answer in that way. So, to **guest**: _

_Ashamed, I have to admit that I completely forgot about Masako during writing the two previous chapters. I know that as the author I should do something like that, and I have no idea how did it happen. I just re-read the chapters after publishing and it was like "Oh my God, where did I put Hara?!" XD I am sorry for the mistake and I put a short explanation about it in this chapter. As I already mentioned somewhere before, I'm not a great fan of her, so maybe that is the real reason behind it. So yeah... And I'm really ashamed about it. XD_

_As always, thanks to **Dark Akuma Hunter** for fixing the mistakes and checking if I haven't done anything to confuse readers. _

_And thanks to everyone who reviewed or added to favourite/followed stories to their profiles. It really makes me happy to hear from you, because sometimes I'm loosing the track of what am I doing in this story and your reviews help me to find the right way :D_

_And please write me any suggestion or remarks you have concerning this story so I can make it better._

_And I don't own Ghost Hunt, if I did I would keep Gene alive. _

_Enjoy~_

* * *

The first thing Cat noticed when she regained consciousness was the smell of damp earth, often associated with old basements or bunkers. It didn't fit in with her memories of the basement of the manor, which had been refurbished along with the rest of the house.

Ignoring the throbbing of her head she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was two people sitting next to her, talking quietly; one blond, the other a redhead.

"Ayako-san?" She asked, surprised by the sudden appearance of the very woman they had been searching for. A rush of relief washed over her at the sight of the woman, clearly alive and no worse for wear.

"You're finally awake." Ayako smiled slightly as she moved over to Cat, intent on checking her head. "Any dizziness? Do you feel like throwing up?" She asked, going into full doctor mode.

"No, no, I'm fine. More importantly, where _were_ you? We were looking all over for you!" Cat shot back, trying to avoid Ayako's hands, earning herself a scowl from the miko.

"I've been here the entire time; not that I have any idea where here is."

Cat's gaze wandered to Takigawa, who seemed perfectly alright aside from a small bruise on his forehead. She then looked around the room, or rather, the spacious burrow. There was a table in the centre; the room was lit by a paraffin lamp. The walls were bare earth, without a single solid support. Cat imagined it could collapse at any moment, imprisoning them beneath the earth. She shuddered. In one corner of the room sat a bottle of water. Directly in front of her stood a solid wooden door.

"Where is Gene?" She asked, noticing his absence.

"It looks like we were the only ones taken this time." Takigawa told her.

Cat sighed, trying to find something positive about the situation, but she was coming up blank. Well, apart from the fact that this time Mai was safe in the base, or at least she hoped so.

"I was wondering... Do you think it would be possible to use your powers to get us out of here?" Ayako asked, staring hopefully at the girl.

"It's possible, by forcing down the door, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea." She replied, and, noting their questioning looks, continued. "The walls might not be able to withstand the impact, and I don't fancy the idea of being buried alive."

Ayako and Takigawa sighed, having had their escape plan ripped from under them by common sense.

"Anyway, what happened to you Ayako-san?"

* * *

Naru was sitting in his chair, completely ignoring all the talk going on around him. He had to admit that they were in quite a pinch. Three members of his team – two of them particularly useful members – had been kidnapped by the entity in a matter of hours; it wasn't an issue he could take lightly. On top of all of that they were left with nothing to go off of except for Mai's dream and the mysterious journal entry. If he had been anyone else he might have screamed his frustration to the world by now.

He tried to sort out his thoughts on the matter by reading through all the notes again. Everything had begun with the murder of the family who built the house, the Yokuda family. The only survivor, their young daughter, was adopted by a relative of her mother – her fate from then on is unknown. From that point on every single family to move into the mansion disappeared without a trace. Based on the information gleaned from the journal and Yoma-san, the real estate agents had been telling potential buyers that the previous owners had moved abroad in order to sell the house. If Madoka's friend hadn't been so desperate to contact the previous owners that she resorted to trying the parents, she would have been none the wiser about the situation.

Searching deeper through the notes, Naru noticed that five of the most recent families to disappear had only had male children. Up until that point all of the families had been mixed.

And according to Mai's dreams the culprit was likely a child, especially if they based it on her latest vision. A child searching for its parents, considering the calls for their mother or father.

"Do we know anything about the daughter of the Yokudas?" He asked suddenly, cutting through the low-level conversation that had been happening around the room.

"Yasuhara-san has been set the task of gathering data on her." Madoka answered, tilting her head slightly as she leaned on the desk next to Lin.

"Why do you ask son?" Martin asked, pausing his conversation with Gene.

"No reason. Nothing I can share until I've seen the data though." He answered, and the tone of his voice clearly indicated the end of that line of discussion.

Unnoticed by the others, Mai's eyes slowly closed against her will.

* * *

_She was happy. She was so full of joy and excitement that she was jumping on the spot, watching the boy in front of her._

_She had to wake him up. Then she could play with her brother and spend some time with him. She liked doing that. Being a younger sister fit her perfectly, because her older brother would always look after her and stop the bad people from hurting her._

"_Onii-chan, wake up." She called, kneeling down and shaking his arm._

_She didn't stop until the boy opened his eyes. When the brown orbs landed on her the boy shuffled away, as though trying to get away from a pest._

"_What do you want?" He asked, a strange edge to his voice._

_Was he angry at her? He shouldn't be, she only wanted to play!_

"_Play with me nii-chan!" She demanded in a happy tone, looking at him._

"_I don't want to." He shot back, continuing to edge away._

"_Please play with me nii-chan, I'm bored!"_

"_I said no!"_

_There was an unpleasant sting in her eyes, she was close to tears now. Why didn't he want to play with her? Didn't he love her? She loved him, so she wanted to spend her time with him._

_The boy paled and looked at her, before his gaze drifted off to the side. There was a moment of silence before he said "I will play with you, just don't cry!"_

_She smiled happily and sat down next to him. See? Her brother _did_ love her!_

* * *

Mai's eyes blinked open, and for a moment she had trouble recognising where she was, before her eyes managed to focus on the blonde hairs which belonged to whoever was hovering over her.

"Oh, you're awake!" Luella announced to the rest of the room, smiling down at the girl whose head was resting in her lap.

Mai turned red and quickly sat up.

"I-I'm sorry." She apologised, bowing her head to the woman.

"Don't worry honey, it wasn't a problem. My lap was often used as a pillow by my youngest son." The woman answered her honestly.

"Mother, that has nothing to do with the case. Please refrain from saying unnecessary things." Naru's glare was ten times stronger than his usual one. "Did you have a vision, Mai?" He asked, and Mai got the feeling he only asked in order to change the subject.

"Yes, but it was nothing important. A girl woke up her brother in order to play with him." She said, briefly summarising her dream.

Naru furrowed his brows. It was quite unusual for Mai to have vision dreams that weren't of any importance to the case at hand. But, he decided, seeing as her powers were still developing, perhaps she had gained a stronger connection with the ghost, who was projecting the more personal visions.

Naru pinched the bridge of his nose. What should he do now?

Over the next two days they conducted another search of the house and grounds, which produced the same results as before: absolutely nothing. The mood among the group was getting progressively worse, with the probability of finding their three missing members shrinking every day. Mai couldn't sleep at night; she spent all her time worrying about the people who were like family to her. She missed all of them. She was staying in a room with Madoka and Luella for now, seeing as Masako had had to bail on them and head back to Tokyo. No matter how friendly the two women were, they would never be able to replace Ayako and Cat. Whenever Mai thought of the two of them she had to fight with herself to prevent her anxiety from showing itself in her behaviour. She wasn't succeeding, and it was worrying Naru – both for their missing members, and for Mai's well-being.

On top of that, Mai was beginning to feel useless. Due to her lack of sleep she hadn't had any new visions. Even when she tried forcing herself to sleep she couldn't coax out any dreams to share with the others. In truth, the only two dreams she had managed to have were once again about the little girl playing with one of her brothers. Seeing as it wasn't even remotely related to the case she didn't have anything to contribute.

Out of everyone she was the worst affected by the disappearances, no matter how hard she tried to hide it from everyone. Takigawa and Ayako had become like parents to her – not literally of course. Deep down in her heart she could remember the pain she'd felt after the death of her real parents. Back then she had been too young to truly understand what was happening, but it had still had a great impact on her. Would she be able to survive that sort of pain again without changing? Without Cat around there was no-one for her to share her innermost thoughts with. Sure, there was still Gene, Naru, and even Madoka, but there were things she didn't feel comfortable sharing with them. And she couldn't deny that the green eyed girl had grown on her; she didn't want to have to deal with losing her.

She really missed them. Takigawa and Ayako's antics and their constant bickering, just like an old married couple. She had noticed that Gene wasn't quite himself any more either. Out of the three who had gone down there he was the only one left and they still didn't know why. Whatever the reason was, they were glad he was still here. Even though he hadn't said anything about it he was also deeply affected by their disappearance, though deep down in her heart Mai believed it was mostly because of Cat. She may be rather thick when it came to matters of the heart, but she could still recognise when someone felt something for another person. Well, when it didn't concern Naru and herself anyway. And even if Gene tried to smile and cheer her up, she could see that the humour in his eyes was gone, tearing away the only major differences between the brother's she had ever noticed. She didn't like it at all.

* * *

On the fourth day Martin said something that caused her heart to stop for a long, terrifying moment.

"We should contact their families."

The atmosphere in the room became tense immediately.

"Why?" Mai asked, slightly confused, not immediately sure of what he meant.

"If we don't find any leads on them by the end of the week, we'll have to accept the fact that they're gone."

Even simply thinking about it was unbearable. Mai stared at the man before her with watery eyes while Gene silently left the room. Naru remained with his back to everyone, looking out the window. John stared at the folder in his hands, most likely praying quietly. Luella and Madoka remained silent.

"But... We can't do that! We can't just leave them like that! They might still be alive somewhere waiting for us to rescue them!" Mai suddenly exploded, all of her fear and anxiety rushing out in shock.

"Mai, calm down." Naru sent her a sharp look.

"No! They're our friends. Family! They would never give up on us if we were missing. They would keep searching until they found something, good or bad. There aren't many people in my life that care about me, but they do. I would do anything to protect them, like they are always protecting me. I can't just abandon them without a fight Naru. I would never be able to face my own reflection again if I gave in now." She continued on, brown eyes glued to blue, showing off her newly found determination. "You never once gave up on finding Gene, even when you believed he was dead, and you saw his death in your dream! You of all people know how I feel right now. You should understand. I'm going to find them, with or without your help. And..." She paused, resting her hand over her heart. "I have this feeling that they're still alive. I can't explain it, and I won't even try, but I just know that they aren't gone yet. They're still with us, somewhere nearby."

When she finished the room was silent. Mai never lost it like that; it was new, and terrifying.

Martin and Luella exchanged looks before turning towards their youngest son, who was standing silently, unmoving, eyes trained on his assistant.

"We won't call anyone for the time being." He acquiesced. It was enough for Mai.

Without a thought as to what she was doing or where she was, Mai closed the distance between her and her boss and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you."

He didn't push her away.

* * *

It wasn't until Madoka received mail from Yasuhara concerning the daughter of the murdered family that they were put back on the right track.

"According to what he managed to find, the girl's name was Kyoko Yokuda, and she was adopted by her mother's cousin Akane. She was only there for four months." Madoka frowned.

"Why only four months?" Mai asked.

"Her adopted parents both suffered fatal heart attacks within a week of each other. It was pronounced an unfortunate coincidence, as neither had been sick. The girl was supposedly sent to an orphanage in Tokyo, however..."

"What is it?"

"There are no records in any of the orphanages in Tokyo that can confirm her presence. It's as if she suddenly disappeared from the system. Yasuhara _was_ able to track down a doctor who was looking after the physical well-being of the girl after the tragic events of her parents' death. Reportedly she was in shock and wouldn't speak to anyone in the beginning, as you would expect. After a few weeks however her mood changed rapidly. When asked what had caused it, she would say that she had made new friends, ones who promised her she would never be alone again. But no-one knew a thing about it. The doctor decided that, in order for her mind to cope with the death of her parents, she must have created an imaginary friend."

"Could it have been the demon talking to her?" John asked.

"But wouldn't she have needed to touch the stone first?" Mai asked, adding her own question.

"Not necessarily. Demons are quite twisted creatures. There are no limits they wouldn't cross in order to find new victims. If there was a haunted place near where the girl was staying, that would have been enough. Enticed by the girl's weakened will and the great sadness she felt after the death of her parents, they would have reached out to her on their own, making her trust them and tricking her into a contract, pretending to be her friends." It was Martin who answered their questions.

"That sounds logical. She moves to her old house and considers the inhabitants to be her family, so she takes them to be with her." Gene suggested.

"It's a possibility. But why take Matsuzaki-san, Takigawa and Hyuga? Why leave you behind?" Naru turned to his brother, who only shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe she was sick of having a brother? I can sometimes relate to that." Gene muttered the last part under his breath, but it still earned him a glare.

"That still doesn't explain the missing three. They are nothing alike, so why lump them together as a family?" Luella queried, joining the conversation.

"Bou-san and Ayako are like an old married couple, so it explains a bit." Mai answered her with a fond smile, remembering the various arguments the two had. "But it still doesn't explain why they took Cat."

"For now we'll work in that direction. We need to find anything related to Kyoko Yokuda." Naru decided.

Mai furrowed her brows. Where had she heard that name before?

And then it dawned on her.

* * *

Cat didn't know what to think of the situation, watching Ayako as she held the little girl close, rocking her as she hummed. It would be quite easy to defeat the girl right then; she was so small and innocent. To think she was capable of kidnapping and most likely murdering fifteen families... It was unbearable.

She rested her head against the wall, closing her eyes for a moment. She had no idea how long they had been down there for; a few days, she suspected. Days in which they had been forced to play house.

Ayako had explained it to her. As long as they went along with whatever the girl wanted, they were fine. She had almost done herself in during her first day, she told her, when she had exploded at the girl from confusion and fear. The demon inside of her explained in painful detail exactly why she should never do that again.

She had no idea how long they would be able to survive. She'd had enough of the sweets the girl had been providing them with as food. She was also sick of playing big sister. But there was nothing she could do about it for now. She wasn't stupid or ignorant. She had noticed the strength of the demon the moment she first laid eyes on the girl. It was almost as though it were showing off to her, for some unknown reason.

"Nee-chan, are you sleeping?" Cat opened her eyes, looking straight into the face of the young girl.

She seemed so harmless...

"No, I'm awake." She forced a smile onto her face. "Was there something you wanted, Kyoko-chan?" She asked, trying to sound like a caring older sister.

"Play with me!"

* * *

"_Play with me!"_

_Mai opened her eyes, momentarily confused. She wasn't in the base anymore. She glanced around. A burrow? With a table... Weird._

_She looked in the direction of the voices and gasped, unable to prevent the tears that filled her eyes. They were alive, she knew it! Aside from the tired looks on their faces they seemed perfectly fine._

"_What do you want to play Kyoko-chan?" Cat asked the brown haired girl in her lap. Mai could tell that her friend was forcing herself to sound cheerful._

_There was a moment of silence in which the girl tried to come up with something to do._

"_Oh, I know a funny game! We'll play in two teams; you and daddy can be in one, and me and mummy in the other, ok?" The child bounced on Cat's lap and the older girl nodded her head._

"_Ok, go get the game and we'll play."_

"_Yes nee-chan!"_

_The girl ran from the burrow, carefully locking the door behind her._

_Mai looked back to her friends. Gone were the forced smiles. Cat closed her eyes and rested her head back against the wall, sighing tiredly. Takigawa stood up, running his hands over his face. Ayako brought her knees up to her chest and hid her face in them. Quiet sobbing filled the silence._

"_Ayako-san..." Cat raised her head to look at the woman before exchanging looks with Takigawa._

"_Ayako, don't cry." The man knelt down in front of the woman, putting his hands on her shoulders. "We're going to get free, I promise you. I'm sure Naru and the others are looking for us."_

"_I... I can't do it any longer. I can't keep pretending to be her mother. Every time she's in my arms I can only think about the demon inside of her. It's too much!" Ayako choked out between sobs._

_She had been there for the longest._

"_You just have to deal with it for a little bit longer Ayako. Please, don't give up. You aren't alone here, remember that. Don't forget that the awesome monk is here with you, and you even have a kitty. Though I'd advise you not to stroke her, she'll burn."_

"_Seriously Bou-san?" Cat asked, raising a brow at hi stupid joke._

_Ayako snorted, raising her head to wipe her tears. Just then, steps sounded outside the door._

* * *

"Mai, wake up."

Mai's eyes snapped open and she looked up at Gene and Luella, before jumping off the sofa, barely avoiding smacking into Gene.

"They're alive! I saw them!"


	34. Important note

I know that it may be quite a disappointment to some of you, but it's not a new chapter. Neither is it a note about putting it on hiatus.

**THE STORY WILL BE CONTINUED SOON.**

Seeing as some of you have messaged me recently, and not so recently (I'm really sorry for my lateness in writing back to you), I just want to explain that I am in the process of writing the new chapter and will upload it as soon as it is finished and checked by my beta.

I really had a lot on my head for the past few weeks. Problems at my work place, and as a result- changing my workplace because of the fact that I couldn't stand the falsity and two-faced bastards (which made me a nervous wreck sometimes) at my previous one, moving to another city, finishing my bachelor degree and starting master degree, losing someone once very important to me. The list goes on and on but I am not going to bore you guys with the details.

In short, I just was no in state of uploading anything coherent enough to not be ashamed later because of it.

I hope you guys understand it and will continue reading _You will be only mine _when I am done with the new chapter and the following ones.

I have some sentiment to this fanfic since it's the first story I have ever wrote and I'm going to finish it. :)

Hope you are not to angry at me for that.


	35. I want my Mommy VII

_A/N: Sorry, again, for taking such a long time with updating. I have nothing to excuse myself with, so I hope that you will all forgive me. eventually. :D _

_Thanks for my beta, __ Dark Akuma Hunter, for the patience :)_  


* * *

_Even though it was the middle of the day, the room was dim. The curtains were drawn across the windows, blocking out the sunlight and warming the room. Other than the muffled sound of voices from downstairs, it was quiet._

_Kyoko stood in her room, looking at the large mirror which hung on the wardrobe door in her soon-to-be old bedroom. She was dressed in a long, black dress, her hair pulled back into a high ponytail, tied with a black ribbon._

_She stared at her reflection thoughtfully, before turning her back to the mirror. She didn't want to go; she wanted to stay here. And more than anything she wanted to have her parents back. She wanted them to play with her like they used to, hug her before she went to bed, praise her when she did something good, and even scold her when she misbehaved! She didn't want them to be gone from her life. Her aunt had tried to explain that they had gone to a better place and that they would watch over her from the heavens, but Kyoko didn't want that! They ought to have been down on the Earth with her. They couldn't cuddle her if they weren't there._

_A knock on the door interrupted her musings as she moved to check that she had packed everything. It swung open, revealing her aunt, dressed from head to toe in black, her eyes red and swollen from her tears during the ceremony for her sister._

"_Are you ready to go sweetie?" She asked quietly, kneeling down in front of the little girl._

_Kyoko looked so much like the woman's sister that she sometimes found it painful to look at her, but it didn't mean she loved the child any less. It was why she had agreed to adopt her and take her in. She and her husband didn't have any children of their own, so her niece would be an important addition to their family, filling the hole that sometimes pained them._

"_I don't want to go, Aunty," Kyoko said sadly._

"_I know Kyoko-chan, but I'm afraid you have to."_

_She took the girl's hand in her own and grabbed Kyoko's bag before leading her out of the room. Kyoko glanced back. Before she left, a voice floated through her head, one that sounded so much like her mother. It whispered to her._

'_Don't worry sweetheart, you'll be back here very soon.'_

_=GH=_

Mai woke with a start, blinking rapidly against the sudden darkness. The dream she'd had surely had to be about the daughter of the murdered couple. There was something about her that felt familiar…

Something was wrong, she could feel it. There was a strange sensation settled deep within her which was beginning to make her nervous.

Her immediate reaction was to turn to the bed beside her own and wake Cat, but then reality sunk back in and she remembered that Cat wasn't there. She clenched the covers tightly, as though hoping they could protect her. Martin's words from yesterday echoed in her head. She'd been trying so hard not to think about them.

"_We should contact their families."_

"_Why?"_

"_If we don't find any leads as to their whereabouts by the end of the week, I'm afraid we're simply going to have to accept the fact that they're gone."_

She didn't want to accept it – they were her friends damn it. But one traitorous part of her mind whispered its agreement. It had been five days already. That was an awfully long time for someone who had been abducted. And she wasn't completely clueless. She had heard Lin and Martin talking about statistics when they thought no one was listening. The sixth day was the end of the line. That meant that they only had one more day to find Ayako, Takigawa and Cat. Given that they had no leads, the task might even prove to be impossible.

Mai tensed suddenly when she heard something outside her window. The undeniable nervousness was back again and she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

She glanced over at Luella through the dark, who was sleeping in Cat's bed, but ultimately decided not to disturb the older woman. She wouldn't know how to go about explaining her worry to her anyway.

Slowly she climbed out of her bed, moving closer to the window. She peered out through the glass, squinting into the darkness. With the moon hidden behind the clouds it was difficult to see, but she was certain that something was out there. She had heard the rustling of leaves. Then again, it could have been her imagination. Late at night, as stressed as she was, it wouldn't be surprising if she was hearing things. But she had learnt from experience that her intuition was right more often than not.

The moon reached out from behind the cover of clouds, lighting the grounds in a dull silvery glow. Mai gasped. There was a figure standing next to the massive tree situated beside the garden.

Mai moved closer to the glass, straining her eyes, trying her best to at least gather a bit of insight into the figure. She swore the figure was staring straight at the house, or at least that's what its body language suggested. It was almost as though it were hiding behind the tree. The figure had a rather petite form, suggesting that it was a child. That's when it dawned on her. She knew that figure. Wasn't it Kyoko, the girl from down the street whom she had seen when they first arrived? But what could she possibly be doing there in the middle of the night? Surely her parents must have been worried about her by now.

Luella sighed in her sleep and Mai spun reflexively to check on her. Assured that she was fine she turned back to the window, and screamed in surprise. She stumbled backwards, hip knocking into the bedside table.

"What's wrong?" Luella asked, jolted awake by her cry and sitting up in bed. She turned on the lamp and faced Mai. "What happened?"

Mai ignored her question for a moment, still staring out the window. It was so strange. No longer was there a young girl standing next to the tree; in her place was an older woman with unnaturally bright eyes. She seemed to be staring straight into Mai's own eyes, and with a start she realised she could somehow hear her voice, whispering in her ear.

'_Please help me.'_

=GH=

Takigawa blinked slowly, lifting a hand to rub his eyes. He wasn't sure when he had dozed off, but it didn't surprise him that he had, considering he was _still_ exhausted. Energy was hard to come by when surviving off a measly diet of sweets. If they ever made it out he knew he would never look at chocolate the same way ever again. When he made it back to his apartment he would have to throw out his sweet stash.

He glanced down at Ayako, who was resting with her head on his shoulder. There were dark bags under her eyes and her skin was unnaturally pale. Out of the three of them she had been hit the hardest by the stressful situation. Perhaps it was simply because she had been forced to endure it for longer than the other two had. Either way she was obviously at her wits end, strung out from the mind games the demon kept throwing at them, acting as though they were a loving family. Takigawa worried about her. It was only a matter of time before she lost her temper, and his gut told him it would bring unpleasant consequences.

He shifted his attention to Cat, who sat next to him on the floor, legs crossed and head against the wall. She was staring tiredly up at the ceiling rather than sleeping. Takigawa knew she hadn't slept at all for some time now (exactly how long was difficult to discern, given they had no indicators of the passing of time in their little room). It was a worrying prospect, because up till now Cat had proven to them that she was capable of sleeping just about anywhere, whenever she pleased. This was a different sort of stress to what she was used to dealing with. The girl sought Cat out most often as a companion, begging for braided hair and painted nails. Takigawa was immeasurably proud of her. So far she had managed to keep a tight rein on her temper and refrained from lashing out at the girl. It was an impressive feat in his eyes, considering how fiery she appeared when forced into close quarters with Gene.

"You awake?" Cat asked suddenly, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah. I couldn't keep sleeping. It seems like only Ayako can manage that these days." He tried to smile, but it was tight and strained, coming across as more of a grimace.

Cat scrutinised the older woman.

"She's not well."

Takigawa stared down at her once more.

"She's a strong woman. I'm sure she'll pull through." At least he hoped so. Without thinking he reached over and brushed several strands of red away from her eyes. "Was everything okay?"

"She didn't show up again while you were sleeping, if that's what you're asking." Cat replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"And how are you holding up?" He asked again, watching her closely.

"Fine, I think. I'm just tired." She rubbed her eyes exhaustedly. "I'm not confident I'll be able to hold on to that stupid older sister façade for much longer. All I can think about is how simple it would be for her to kill us at any given moment. Of course, I know deep down that Mai will never give up on finding us. It's a shallow hope, but it helps."

Takigawa smiled faintly. Yes, Mai's naïve dedication tended to have that effect on people.

=GH=

"Would you mind _calmly _explaining why you felt the need to wake me up in the middle of the night, mother?" Naru asked, a dull throb erupting behind his eyes.

Not only had he been having trouble sleeping – his irritation at being unable to do anything plaguing his mind – but almost the moment he _did_ manage to fall asleep, his mother burst into his room, babbling some nonsense about a young girl who changed into an old woman in the blink of an eye. Don't get him wrong, he loved his mother, but sometimes he really wished she was back in London.

"Actually, I think it might be better if I do it," Mai offered hesitantly from where she stood behind his mother, seemingly confused by her behaviour.

And so she did. Once she had explained the dream and the figure to him, Naru felt he could at least understand their frantic actions. At a time like this it was unsurprising that they would react as such. However that didn't mean he believed their theory that it was another ghost.

Without a word Naru swept from the room, marching straight down to the base, where Lin and Gene were watching the monitors, and his father was speaking with someone on the phone.

"Lin, check the cameras outside the house," he instructed. "See if they detected any presences in the last thirty minutes. If they did, find out who it was and where they went. This is crucial. Gene, have you felt anything in the last half hour?" He turned to his brother, who blinked up at him in confusion.

"No, everything seemed pretty normal." He said, before pausing and thinking about it. "Wait. Actually… I thought I felt something, but it was just a flicker, just for a moment. I figured it was just some sort of disturbance, you know? I said the prayer and the feeling was gone."

"Disturbance?" Mai repeated, confused by his wording.

"It doesn't happen often, but occasionally a ghost requires a prayer in order for its soul to pass through the border between the living and the dead. When this happens they usually pester a person with high spiritual awareness. They move on as soon as the prayer is completed. Since they don't have strong levels of energy they are generally called disturbances in paranormal circles." Martin elaborated, closing his phone.

Mai nodded thoughtfully.

"Anyway, son, what is all this about?"

Naru briefly relayed what Mai had witnessed.

"Well then, we ought to visit the neighbours and ask them why their daughter was wandering around the haunted house in the middle of the night." Martin decided.

"Don't you think it's a little late for that?" Luella hedged, "It's the middle of the night."

"Since it's apparently not too late for their daughter to be out and about, I hardly think time is a problem."

=GH=

In the end Naru and Mai found themselves standing behind Martin as he knocked on the wooden door of the next house over. It appeared as though the residents were all asleep, with not a single light on in the house. Considering that it was, indeed, the middle of the night, that fact was unsurprising.

After a few moments a light flickered on inside, and the door swung open, revealing a young woman who had clearly just woken up.

"Can I help you?" She asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes and covering a yawn.

"Good evening. Listen, we're very sorry to disturb you so late at night. Only, we just moved in to the house on the other side of the forest, and we were a little concerned to see your daughter wandering around the garden just now." Martin explained politely, hoping beyond hope that there would be a simple answer for everything.

The woman stared at him silently, blinking in confusion as she processed and tried to understand what he was saying through her sleep addled mind.

"I'm sorry, you must be mistaken. We don't have any kids." She replied eventually, leaning heavily against the doorframe, clearly wishing she hadn't had to get up. "The only kids in the area, as far as I know, are a couple of boys who live some distance from here. There aren't any girls."

=GH=

"… I made a picture of our family!"

Takigawa raised his eyes to examine the picture that was being shoved in his face. The culprit stood before him with a self-satisfied grin on her face.

The artist in him had to admit that it was fairly good for someone her age, seeing as the characters actually bore some resemblance to the four of them. That didn't mean he liked the picture though. Still, he forced a smile for her.

"It's lovely, Kyoko-chan," he praised. Truthfully he wanted to tear it to pieces, for it perfectly portrayed the nightmare he was currently in.

He really, really wanted to get out of that damned cell.


End file.
